The Charmed Dormitory: EP 01 – The Sight to the Other World
by Micro Magic
Summary: A crossover series where three of the nine Halliwell cousins will interact with the Xialan Xingde family at their dormitory on their quest to prevent a universal catastrophe from taking place. What will these three young witches find on their new otherworldly adventure? And what can they do in a world where the power of the Charmed Ones doesn't exist?
1. Chapter 1

It was a lovely summer day in San Jose.

People roamed the city like any lovely day, unaware of the dangers that lurk in their midst. Two adolescent girls walked down a back alley where one such danger was following them in the walls, ready to jump out of hiding and devour these two idiots when the time came.

They came to a stop at the end of the alley where their path was blocked by a massive brick wall. The demon was glad that he had put out a sign that read "Short cut to the station". For the past two weeks, people had walked in here thinking the wall had been removed. The demon always waited until the last moment, when they realize their mistake, to come out and devour them. Today was no different. He jumped out of the walls and showed its full evil form, jaws open and ready.

These girls didn't fret. They didn't even scream when they turned around. On the contrary, they were completely calm. Most people would have screamed to the top of their lungs when they saw his dark purple skin, glowing red eyes and single horn sticking out of his forehead.

He must have done something wrong. Well, perhaps he should remedy that, he thought and summoned a fireball into his palm. One of the girls waved her hand, and the flames extinguished as quickly as they came. The demon gasped as realization hit. These were no ordinary girls. He turned to run, but one of them materialized in front of him in a swirl of orbs to block his path.

"Going somewhere?" she said.

He raised his hand and concentrated on tossing his strongest energy ball that would send her to the afterlife. But before he could finish forming his attack, she had stretched out her hands and destroyed him with a deadly blast of power.

* * *

"Well, that takes care of that," said Melinda Halliwell, who had her hands on her hips now.

Tamora Mitchell, her cousin from their mothers' side, nodded. "Thanks, Mel," she said, "That demon was very elusive. He was only tangible when he came to devour his victims."

She shrugged. "All in a day's work." She checked her phone. "Oh, no. I have to get back to school. Class is starting in about twenty minutes. Do you need a ride?" she offered.

Tammy shook her head. "I'm helping Henry supply shopping for police training. He's coming to pick me up at school."

"I thought he did that last week."

"Last minute additions. Need to be ready by tonight, or else he'll just bug us."

Melinda and Tammy laughed. Henry Mitchell Jr was Paige's adoptive son, and Tammy's little brother. Everyone loved him and treated him like part of the family. Even their great-grandmother who despised men was excited to meet him when he was a newborn. Unfortunately, being adopted into a magical family had its drawbacks. For one, the family was almost constantly at risk of being attacked by warlocks and demons. Their parents had to go to great lengths to keep their children safe and maintain a semi-normal life. For another, Henry was the only family member who didn't have any powers of his own. He had to watch his older sisters and cousins practice magic growing up. One time he witnessed Melinda's eldest brother Wyatt conjure a dragon out of a storybook. And whenever they wanted to go somewhere, they only needed to focus on a location, and then they would dissolve in a swirl of lights.

But Henry was completely mortal, just like his father, grandfather and Uncle Leo. It took a long time for the poor boy to figure out how to deal with this exclusivity. Their dad taught him to fight and to defend those in need. Because whether he was mortal or magical, it was a matter of how he connected himself to the rest of the world. If he could use whatever strength he had to help others, then it won't matter if he was magical, because he would still be a hero to them.

They yelped when a sudden swirl of white lights appeared in front of the cousins. It was Tamora's twin, Kat. She didn't seem to notice their anguish.

"Ah, there you are," she said, throwing her arms in the air, then gave Melinda a brief greeting before turning back to her sister, "Tam, I've been calling. Why didn't you answer?"

Tammy fished out her phone. The screen showed four missed calls from Kat, and also half a dozen from Henry. She checked the time on the screen, and realized why her sister had come looking for her. "Oh, sorry," she apologized, "The vibration's very bad and I turned off the sound. Is he there now?"

Kat nodded. "You weren't at the dorm, so he asked me to come find you."

Uh-oh.

"Oh, okay. I'm going." She turned to their cousin. "See ya later, Mel."

Melinda waved them goodbye. They were gone in seconds. She immediately left the alley and headed toward the subway. The train was a ten minute ride, so with any luck she should be able to make it to class if she ran the rest of the way back to school.

* * *

Tam and Kat rematerialized in a bathroom stall, and made their way to Tam's dorm room. She almost screamed when she saw Henry snagging her chocolate chunk cookies, which she hid under her bed.

"Hey, those are my cookies," she complained and turned to her sister. "Did you tell him?"

Kat raised her hands in the air.

"She didn't have to," Henry said, "You always hide your treats somewhere. Mom had to orb them out from under your bed when you were little. I figured since you no longer live under their roof, why wouldn't you have something."

Kat chuckled.

"Shall we go?" Tam asked.

"Where were you anyway?" Henry wondered.

"Demon hunting with Melinda."

Kat grunted. She suspected that was what they were doing. No one had gone with her on a magical venture in ages. The last time she went along on a demon hunt, a Marlov demon snagged an innocent under her watch and she got knocked unconscious. One of her cousins had made it in time to save the poor boy and vanquish the demon. Since then, no one had wanted her to join them on their missions, and she was beginning to get sick of being left out.

Henry stood from the bed. Kat stole a glance at him and instantly refrained from complaining. Right now, her brother was what mattered.

"Come on, let's get going," Tam ushered. "I have a date tonight, and you need to get ready for tomorrow." Turning to Kat, she said, "And you should probably get back to work."

Kat rolled her eyes. Her shift at the nearby diner was an hour away. Tam may be better at choosing the right equipment due to having gone to summer camp, but that didn't mean she wanted to stay put while her brother and sister went shopping.

"I can kill the time until my next shift," she assured them. "Besides, I wanna help my little brother pick out tools for his police training too."

Henry grinned and approached to give his sisters a group hug. "Man, it's so great to have my sisters around."

"Well, better get used to not having us around then," Tam advised, "Starting tomorrow, you'll be on your own for a while."

He snickered, "At least I won't have you two hogging the bathroom."

His sisters burst into a laughing fit. In that moment, Tam snagged her cookie box away from Henry's hands. "These are mine," she said and left the room with it in her hands.

Kat and Henry laughed some more before following.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it," PJ Halliwell recited the mantra.

She had been mentally preparing herself for this. This morning, she even practiced in front of her mirror. She's got every word down.

Bart was conversing with his classmates while the room cleared out. PJ stayed behind, silently hoping to catch him alone.

"I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it." She recited again. Her heart pounded uncomfortably in her chest, making her feel a little dizzy.

Bart finally left his friends and headed up the stairs for the exit. And he was headed in her direction. He caught her glimpse and stopped. "Yo, wassup, PJ?" he said.

"Hey," she said dumbly. Her heart slammed against her ribcage like a jackhammer, and air instantly left her lungs. She forced oxygen down her throat to avoid choking. Her insides twisted and she felt like she was melting into a puddle. "Not much. Are you heading to practice later?" _I'm gonna do it._

He nodded. "Yeah. The game is coming up soon, so we all hafta keep in shape. What about you? Are you going to practice too?"

She opened her mouth to say the words. "Yeah, definitely. I mean, I am co-captain of the volleyball team. Staying in shape is mandatory." _Why am I saying this?_

"Cool. I'll catch ya later then. I have to get some coffee." He nodded as a gesture of goodbye before walking off, leaving PJ standing there like an idiot. Which she was. Who would be so shy that the words she'd meant to say turned into something else entirely? She huffed in frustration. The melting sensation from before died down as her heart sank to her stomach. She had been psyching herself all this time for nothing. Talk about having no guts. She felt a sudden tinge of jealousy toward her cousins, and she knew why. They were all angels and had tremendous powers, and they were all about taking risks to fight demons. Her father was a Cupid; an angel who fought the good fight by spreading love instead of directly participating in it. PJ and her sisters, Parker and Peyton inherited those traits and therefore were more pacifistic, and preferred to use their powers in matters of love instead of war.

But even so, being half-Cupid didn't grant her the ability to confess her feelings with ease.

"Great," she muttered to herself sarcastically. _I guess I'll do it next time._

* * *

Melinda studied hard in her bedroom for the exam next week. Her eyes were feeling heavy. She had been studying non-stop since she got back from class. She knew that she should rest, but she couldn't.

She's had to take classes since to keep up with modern knowledge, and even worked part-time to pay the tuitions. Tomorrow will finally be her chance to enter the physics program, and make her step at becoming a doctor. Her dad, being an angel who helped others find love, believed that psychology would be more of her field of expertise. But no matter how many times she looked at it, it didn't fascinate her like physics.

Melinda checked the time.

"Five hours?" she mumbled and rubbed her eyes. _"I guess I could use a break."_

Her eyes suddenly grew heavier. Keeping them open was like lifting a ton of weights. Her foggy mind ate away at her senses. Before she knew it, her face had softly landed on her textbook and sleep pulled her into unconsciousness. She woke and found herself standing in a desert… if it could be called that way. There was nothing but a vast wasteland… no plants, no animals, no sign of other life forms. The dim sunlight was partially shrouded by sinister-looking clouds in the sky. They all had two small holes and a large one that silhouetted a face. Suddenly, she was surrounded by breaking sounds. She could hear it in every direction, and seemed to be closing in. Soon her eardrums were aching and her chest vibrated with the frequency.

A loud explosion made her turn. A young Asian man with cropped hair and a sleeveless dusty green jacket held an exotic white guitar in his hands. He didn't seem to notice her.

"Who are you?" Melinda asked.

He didn't answer or look in her direction. The clouds descended and formed into three demons with bat wings extended from their backs and horns on top of their heads… and they were all moving at the young man. Melinda wanted to reach out and shove him out of harm's way, but before she could reach him, he snapped his fingers on the strings on his guitar and sent a massive wave of energy. It disintegrated the demons as soon as it touched them. Melinda stared with wide eyes. This level of power was extremely rare, and the only person she knew with that kind of power was her brother.

More demons descended right then. No, there were hundreds. An army. She looked to the Asian man again, and saw his own army. All of them were men and women. They raised their hands up in the air. Lights burst out of them and joined with each other. The combined light was so bright that it was blinding. Melinda shielded her eyes with her hands.

A groundbreaking laughter throbbed into her ears. It was so loud that she could feel the ground vibrate under her feet. It was then everything blurred.

Melinda gasped in horror as she found herself back in her dorm room, still seated with the textbooks on her desk. _What the hell was that?_

She jumped when her phone rang. After calming down, she snatched it up to see the caller ID. "What's up, Dad?"

"Hey, honey. Are you ready yet?"

"Ready for what?"

Silence. "Your cousin's sendoff party. He's moving to Washington for his training, remember. I told you I was coming to pick you up so we can shop for your mom's ingredients."

Melinda slapped her forehead. She had totally forgotten about it in the last five minutes. Glancing at her textbooks again, she flipped them closed. "I'm on my way. I'm just changing. See you in a few."

She cut the call and immediately went to her wardrobe. Studies will have to come a little later. Her mind couldn't concentrate on choosing the proper outfit, because it kept wandering back to the dream. Who was that man? Where did that whole thing take place? It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, and she'd watched Star Wars to recognize the scenery. But with demons? That was a whole other level of weird.

* * *

Piper Halliwell, oldest sister of the Charmed Ones, taste tested her own recipe of chanterelle ravioli. Something in the taste was off. Something was lacking.

"Thyme," she concluded, added a pinch into the boiling bowl and resumed stirring.

Her hands flowed ever so freely with the mix. It was a huge relief to work on her stress with something so practical. For some reason, demon attacks had been more frequent recently. She and her sisters had fought immensely less forces that threatened to destroy or take over the world in the last decade than when they first became witches. They had fought so many that no one was able to keep score, and no one wanted to either. They had gained and lost much because of the fight. Like Prue, their eldest sister. She had lost her life to the great battle, and then came back by inhabiting the body of another. But it didn't last. She merged with the source of all magic, and eventually an extremely powerful demon, and subsequently became their enemy. They had to sacrifice her for the sake of the world. All because they were under control of something called "destiny". Even more so, they had so sacrifice a great amount of their lives for the greater good. Gideon, her husband's mentor, tried to kill her oldest son because he believed his tremendous power was threatening and tried to do the world a _favor_ by getting rid of him. She had to fight for her marriage with Leo and everything that came afterwards for the sake of their love. Even her sisters had to sacrifice something for the same reason. Their good friend, Cole Turner, took Phoebe's husband's place when a spirit killing athame flew in his direction. His soul was forever lost and his death was mourned.

Yes, they had indeed suffered many losses over the years. But even so they had gained much as well. She and her sisters now had families, careers that they loved, their children all grew up happy and healthy, and their lives were in the quiet state. Especially now that Piper was no longer head of the Witch Council. She made sure it was in good hands and knew Patience's niece would be a good leader. The girl had a knack for leadership from enlisting in the army a couple of years ago.

"We're here," said her baby half-sister, Paige Matthews, as she entered the kitchen with her husband, Henry Mitchell.

Piper smiled at their arrival.

"Hey, guys," she replied, "Paige, could you come in here and help me place the plates. Henry, do you mind getting the utensils out? I'm still needed in the kitchen."

They complied and separated to perform the menial tasks. It didn't take long before someone else joined in: her husband.

"Hey, guys," said Leo Wyatt, "Wow, that smells great." He wrapped his arms around Piper's waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

Piper reveled in the closeness. She had always loved his affection, and it only intensified through the years. She loved how they learned to depend, respect and understand each other. It had taken a long time, and they had more than a few fallouts, but it was all worth it in the end.

"Glad you're home. I thought you would be busy for many more hours." She leaned her head back. "Dinner's almost ready, so if you could call Phoebe and the kids, that would be most helpful."

He nodded, immediately releasing her to make the calls. She didn't know how to put it, but something about his posture seemed off. Is something going on? Could there be something?

"Anybody home?"

The sound of her children and those of her sisters' voices brought a sense of peace into her chest. She loved and adored them all; which was why they were having dinner at the Manor tonight. They were having a sendoff party for little Henry.

* * *

Life couldn't be more perfect for the Halliwells and many people saved by them. The war was won, and nothing could stop their happiness.

But somewhere far out in space, in a distant universe, good and evil were still at war with one another. Neither side had the upper hand. The leader of the army, Sha Tian, known as the Ultimate Iron Man in his home world, fought with everything he had against the malicious Lord Diablo. Today, both armies fought again. No one could remember how many times they had fought or how long the war had been going. No one kept score. They only knew that they had to keep fighting, for the sake of their worlds and families.

"I will not yield, Lord Diablo," said Sha Tian confidently. "Your darkness will not overtake the worlds. We will conquer you."

A group of demons sent deadly red beams in his direction. He ran his fingers across his electric guitar, Iron Limitless, and sent powerful shockwaves that neutralized the beams and annihilated the demons.

"Your will is strong, as is your power, Ultimate Iron Man, but I'm afraid it is not enough to stop me," said the demon lord. "We have fought for over a decade, and yet you've never won. Your forces are dying out, and eventually you will not be able to go on. And when that happens, the universe will be mine to rule." He laughed.

But Sha Tian did not waver. "I will never let that happen. I will fight. I will defeat you and I will save the worlds." He sent another blast against the lord's army of demons. "You will _never_ win! Light will eventually prevail!"

Diablo just laughed at his optimism. "Hahahaha, that's just pathetic talk. We have been in this war for over a decade already. No one, not even your family, had been able to defeat the darkness. Your power may be unrivaled, but I have fought countless ultimate powers of justice before you. All they ever could do was drive me away, banish me from their realms. But no one, not a single one of them, ever succeeded in defeating me. And neither will you."

His laughter echoed throughout the spacious wasteland.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wait, so you're saying something's been slipping into our world?" Chris asked Wyatt with a low voice. He didn't want to risk being overheard.

They looked over their shoulders into the conservatory. His big brother had casually dragged him out to the garden to tell him of this matter.

"We don't know for sure yet," Wyatt answered, "But I've been having this feeling these past few weeks, like something is going on. Just the other night, I dreamt about demons falling down from the sky."

Chris raised his eyebrows. "From the sky? Did video games get to your head like those other obsessives I sometimes hear on the news?"

Wyatt rolled his eyes. He couldn't blame Chris's skepticism. Demons don't fall from the sky. Except the dream he had was so vivid, he couldn't shake it off even if he wanted to. So he did some research beforehand. "I know how it sounds, but I already checked with the Elders. They've been feeling it, too. They just haven't been able to identify the source yet. Here, look at this." He pulled out his smartphone and showed his brother a video of a man in the woods. A weird black smoke emerged from the edge and slowly crept toward him. When he started to back away, it moved in three times faster and enveloped the surprised man. He wrapped his hands around his throat and writhed in pain. Soon enough, the black vapor entered his body. When he turned toward the person holding the camera, his eyes were glowing in a maliciously green color.

Wyatt had watched this video over and over, and every time it shook him to the core. Whatever it was, it was corruptive and powerful. He noticed the same look on Chris's face through his periphery. It unnerved him, too.

"What's this?"

"It's footage from an Australian region. The local witches there saw something fall from the sky, and went to check it out. And you saw what happened. The other witches barely made it out alive. They have the infected guy in the video contained, but the thing is they don't know what possessed him."

Chris was silent, probably taking it all in. "Okay… so what do you think it means? That we're facing some big bad from outer space?"

Before Wyatt could say anything more, Parker and Peyton came out to the garden.

"Guys, dinner's ready," Parker told them.

Peyton eyed at them suspiciously. "Is everything okay?"

Chris looked at Wyatt. He was inclined to tell them. But what good would it do? They were there to send Henry off to police training, and that's what they should focus on. Magical disasters could wait a day longer. It wasn't going anywhere, and neither were they.

Wyatt and Chris walked back inside the house. Dinner went on smoothly as everyone spoke and ate. Even their grandfather Victor was having a good time chatting with Dad. Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coop were going over her latest project for her upcoming book. Melinda and Tam fought over a spoon, but never got violent. Henry Jr, Wyatt and Chris discussed training sessions. Their cousin kept his body in shape more often than either of them, though they occasionally worked out together at the gym.

PJ was the only one who didn't speak much. She didn't seem to be in the mood for talking. Wyatt noticed then that her sister was sitting next to him. Deciding to butt in, he nudged her with his shoulder, then glanced back at PJ. Peyton's smile faded.

"Do you know what's going on?" he asked.

Peyton shook her head. "She was like that when she got here."

Aunt Paige eventually rose from her seat right then, and tapped the glass in her hand to get everyone's attention. The murmurs in the room quickly quieted.

She began with, "Okay, as you all know, today is a celebration as well as a sendoff for my son, Henry. From tomorrow forward, he will be away for quite some time." She looked at her son. Tears welled up in her eyes. "And while we are sad to see you go, we are also happy that you have achieved your dreams.

"When you're a parent, your greatest wish is that your children will always be safe. But even so, now that you've grown up and have found your passion to leave your nest, we will still wish that you'd stay in our arms so that we can protect you. Maybe that will change someday…" The tears finally fell down her cheeks. "But I know independence and the need to stand on your own two feet is part of what makes you who you are. And we are all so proud of you for finding the courage to venture off on your own."

Henry's eyes began to swell with emotional tears. Tam reached under the table to grab her brother's hand. He reached across the table toward Kat, who took his other hand. Everyone else smiled widely.

Uncle Henry rose from his seat and wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders. He smiled encouragingly before facing his son.

"We're all so proud of you, son."

Henry pulled back his hand from Tam to wipe away the tears in his eyes and then under the nose.

"Okay, um…" Aunt Paige hiccupped.

Aunt Phoebe handed over the napkin by her seat. Aunt Paige took it and wiped away the teary evidence.

"Let's eat."

Everyone started digging into the bowls. Conversations resumed. Grandpa told his daughters about the fun-filled life of retirement; Dad, Uncle Coop, and Uncle Henry talked about taking a beer break on Sunday; Chris and Henry playfully fought over the beef bowl, which only had one beef of steak left; Peyton and Tamora showed each other the apps they'd recently added to their phones. Parker and PJ discussed school subjects, though PJ didn't seem fully attentive in the conversation.

Wyatt wanted to ask what was going on, but in the back of his mind, the footage and his conversation with the Elders troubled him more at the moment. He couldn't help but think something horrible was on its way, and this may be their last family dinner for a while. The thought of that possibility was what kept him from telling everyone what had been going on.

Mom and the twins cleared the table after dinner, and everyone mingled around the house. Grandpa, Dad and his uncles talked out in the garden. Wyatt joined his sister on the sofa in the living room watching a nicotine commercial on the flatscreen.

"Not up for a television show?" he asked.

Melinda shook her head. She seemed to be lost in thought.

"Something wrong?"

Her lips thinned into a line. It took a moment before she spoke. "I'm not sure."

 _What does that mean? Should I ask more?_ he thought.

He could tell something was on her mind during dinner. Her lack of enthusiasm wasn't as obvious was PJ, but her eyes and speaking tone were obvious enough to him.

"What is it?" He decided to persist. He had enough to worry about on his plate, but perhaps listening to hers would be a good distraction.

"It's nothing. I just had a dream this afternoon," she confessed.

"A dream?"

She nodded. "It was so weird. I was in this wasteland. It was almost like being on a different planet, and there was this war going on. Witches, demons, they were fighting. Even weirder, the demons came from the sky."

Wyatt's eyes widened. "What?"

* * *

Wyatt and Melinda dragged their Aunt Phoebe out to the garden to avoid the others overhearing them. She was the family's seer, the only one with the power to see the future, past and present. If Melinda did indeed have a vision, she would know better.

"It sounds like you had a vision," she confirmed. "Did you hear anything specific? Sometimes the visions include very distinctive sounds that may provide clues."

Melinda thought back to the dream. She couldn't remember hearing anything other than the explosive waves of power and screaming. She shook her head. "But how is that possible? I don't have premonitions."

Aunt Phoebe grinned. "You may be part Whitelighter, but being part witch your powers grow slowly. You probably didn't have premonitions until this point because you weren't physically ready for it. But just to be sure." She held out her hands. "Let me see."

"How?"

Her grin grew. It seemed to be enough encouragement. Melinda wasn't sure how it was going to work, but her aunt was a powerful seer. She had to know what she was doing. Melinda took her hands and closed her eyes. She tried to think back to the dream. To the moment when the battle took place. To the powerful Asian warrior fighting a horde of demons. Her aunt gasped and her whole body stiffened. They knew it was a sign that it was working. When she opened her eyes, there was a hint of horror.

"Oh, my God," she muttered.

Wyatt showed them the video footage.

"Do you think this may be related?" he wondered.

Aunt Phoebe watched it intently. "It's possible. I've been feeling it, too, but I haven't been able to pinpoint anything. In your vision, I could sense very dark energy coming from the demons. And that man, I sensed tremendous power from him, too. I'm assuming he is a warrior of good. And his army is fighting the dark power."

Melinda furrowed her eyes, making a dimple. "But why did I see it? And where is this place? If they're fighting it, then shouldn't we be safe?"

Frustration ate away at her. Whatever it was, it must be a dire situation and if Aunt Phoebe was right, it was seeping into their world. She never had a premonition before, so how was she supposed to understand any of it?

Her aunt patted her shoulder comfortably. "I don't have the answers. But if you're seeing this, that must mean you're supposed to figure it out." She swept her hand up and down Melinda's shoulder. "Don't worry. When the time is right, you'll know what to do."

Melinda met her eyes. "Really?"

She nodded encouragingly.

"Should we tell them?" Wyatt asked while glancing back at the house.

Their aunt looked in the same direction. "Your mom will kill us, but not right now. I think we should hold off until tomorrow. After all, it's Henry's night."

They nodded agreeingly.

* * *

In the attic of Halliwell Manor, the family's greatest heirloom, the Book of Shadows–which contained generations of knowledge and power–glowed an intense light on its triquetra symbol. Something was on its way, and the time for awakening was near. It flew open and flipped to an empty page, and a new entry materialized. Prue clearly felt the need to warn her family about the upcoming danger. Everyone around the world was feeling it too, and the final battle was closing in.

The benevolent Valkyries on the hidden isle of Valhalla prepared their soldiers for this. Now the time had finally come. In the meantime, the Elders and Angels of Destiny discussed the matter in their regions. They knew it too, and it was time to notify everyone.

"Is there any way to prevent this?" Sandra asked. She was a friend of the Charmed Ones. Even though they weren't on the best of terms, she was always on their side.

Amar shook his head. "I'm afraid we do not know the solution to this. But we must alert everyone. Alert all Whitelighters and have them warn their charges. We should tell the Witch Council as well."

Sandra agreed with that.

Since the Old Ones, there hadn't been anything so powerful in decades. They needed everyone in position if they wanted to survive this.

* * *

The next morning, Kat hugged her brother goodbye at the bus station with their parents and sister.

"I'll see you guys next weekend, don't worry," he told Tam while hugging her.

He picked up his duffel bag and casually threw it over his shoulder.

"Bye, guys."

Mom tearfully kissed his cheek. "I'm gonna miss you so much," she whispered.

"I'll miss you, too. But I must ask you guys a favor. I know you'll probably want to orb in and say hi, so please don't do that. I want the academy to be my place. And it's probably better to avoid any kind of problem."

Kat chuckled. Tam smacked him on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I won't, but I won't promise not to sneak a peek at you," she mused.

Dad shook his hand. "Take care of yourself, son."

"I will. I gotta go. Bye, guys."

With that, he went to join the other cadets at the registry for signing in. They watched until he hopped on the bus, found a seat that faced them, and waved goodbye. After everyone got on the bus, it departed.

"Let's go home," Dad said some moments after the bus disappeared from sight.

They were making their way to the car when Kat heard a ringing sound drilled into her ears. It wasn't pleasant in the least.

"Ow." She heard Tam mutter and noticed that she had her hands pressed at her ears as well.

And so was Mom.

Were they all hearing it? Dad just looked at them with a surprised look. He hadn't heard anything.


	4. Chapter 4

"What do you mean global crisis?" Piper asked Sandra, who had dropped in for a visit ten minutes after she came home from the restaurant. Her perfectly nice day was ruined the second she dropped in, and her perfectly normal life followed when she mentioned a worldwide crisis being at hand.

Leo listened closely from his position by the attic window. Her husband had been a Whitelighter for more than sixty years, and an Elder for a while before becoming fully human to be with her. While he no longer had any powers, he knew the Elders well enough to know their warning shouldn't be taken lightly.

"You didn't know? We haven't been able to identify it yet, but it's been happening all around the world," Sandra answered. "In fact, there was an incident in Australia yesterday. The witches there have already notified Wyatt."

"What?!" Piper snapped. "He didn't say anything to me."

Wyatt, Chris, Melinda, Coop, and Phoebe picked right then to enter the attic.

"What's the emergency?" Wyatt asked.

They all froze at the sight of the Elder. Piper turned to them with daggers shooting from her eyes.

"Sandra here says you guys were told that something big's been going on, and she also said that you–" She pointed at Wyatt. "–already know about it."

Wyatt stiffened. Her two other children and Phoebe looked at him sympathetically. _So not the looks I expected. Unless…_ "If you three tell me that you already knew about this, I swear I will–"

"I had a premonition yesterday," Melinda interrupted. "We think it might've been relevant."

"What?!" Piper snapped again. Her daughter was having premonitions and the world was being threatened by some major big bad again? What more surprises waited in the horizons?

Leo went to her side and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Why didn't you tell us? How long has this been going on?" he asked accusingly.

Chris shrugged. "We only found out last night. It was after Wyatt got a sent a video footage from his Australian charges to let him know what happened."

"We meant to tell you, but last night wasn't exactly the opportune moment," Wyatt explained. "I mean, we didn't want to spoil Henry's sendoff party. And then we got a distress call from someone in Abu Dhabi this morning, so we didn't have time."

Piper had to control every inch of her body to keep from thrusting her hands at them. She knew how dangerous her power could be when she was angry. Just pointing at anything with rage boiling in her head could melt or blow it to a million pieces.

"I'll yell at you later. Right now let's deal with the problem at hand. We're waiting for Paige, Phoebe's girls and the twins to get here first."

They appeared in swirls of whitish blue and pink lights at the far end of the attic.

"Great, now we can start," Piper said, turning back to Sandra. "So what exactly is going on? Give me the short version."

The Elder described the dark entities that corrupted magical beings and made them go berserk. Those who got caught were quickly neutralized and brought to confinement by the magical community. The corruptive power was dark and demonic. Everyone listened intently as the situation tensed. "Some of the other Elders suspect it has something to do with a war in a second universe," she concluded.

"What?" Paige asked, completely startled. "As in the parallel world where good and evil were reversed"

Sandra shook her head. "That world was a mirror version of ours that works to maintain balance for the grand design. What I speak of is a completely separate universe that is similar to ours but also different in many ways."

Wyatt took a step forward. "Wait, do you mean the multiverse theory? Like in _The Flash_ and _Superman – Infinite Earths_?"

Coop, Leo and Sandra looked completely puzzled by those references. Piper looked at Wyatt sheepishly. _If you were still living here, I would cut you back on your TV watching. It's a surprise you could work remotely._

Wyatt sighed. "Bottom line is, there is an alternate universe where things and places are similar to ours, and even people who look the same as the ones we know from here, but they are also different."

Sandra confirmed with a slow nod. "That would be correct."

"Cool," Chris muttered quietly.

Piper went straight back to the point. "Okay, while this is very fascinating, what does this have to do with our world?"

Sandra met her eyes with a heavy expression. "Aside from the separate universes, there is also a dark realm that coexists with them all. The realm of demons. Eons ago, when the Old Ones were defeated, many fled back to that realm, but some remained and found refuge in the Underworld. The demons you all faced originated from that realm. Our world has been safe from it all this time, thanks to the guardians who provided a worldwide protection which had been keeping the dark realm at bay."

"Then what happened? How did they get past the wards?" Phoebe asked.

Sandra's face turned gloomier. Whatever she was going to say, Piper knew she wasn't going to like it. "One of those who fled was an Old One. Lord Diablo. A decade ago, he formed an army and waged war against four of worlds, intending to take over and then move on to the rest. The worlds that were targeted built their own armies and guardians, and eventually went to face off against the demon lord. Our world has been well-protected, but with the recent events, I worry that the dark realm's forces may have gotten stronger. Strong enough to break through the wards."

Everyone fell silent.

"So this is the dark realm's doing? The corruptions and invasions?" Leo asked.

"If that's true, does that mean my vision was about the war?" Melinda added her own question.

Sandra nodded. "I think it's safe to assume on both accounts. If it is true, then I regret to say the war may be coming our way. The Elders and I will keep close watch to see if there's a way, but in the meantime, all of you need to be on alert. All Whitelighters have been notified, and in turn they will warn their charges. We will warn the rest of the magical community too. Be well." With that, she took off.

Piper huffed. How did she feel about this situation? When was she ever out of trouble for good? When did demons ever stop visiting or come out of hiding from whatever dump they had been hiding in? She and her family were always out there saving the world, protecting it, and even died trying to keep the big catastrophe from ripping it apart. Easy job.

"We're screwed."

* * *

Everyone went downstairs to discuss the problem. Mom was still pretty angry at them for keeping secrets from her. _Man, if only she knew how many secrets we keep from her,_ Melinda thought while pouring tea into the mugs. But the extraterrestrial invasions were enough of a matter to get her off their backs.

She knew it was not a game. People died from these sorts of danger. The world was facing its end as they knew it. Their parents had taught them all their lives about the seriousness of dark forces and magical mishaps, and what could happen if they weren't careful with their powers. Nothing about magic was to be taken lightly, as her mom would say. Just like how she wasn't allowed to use magic for personal gain. She learned that lesson the hard way when she was six years old and almost burned down the school, because some bully shoved her against the lockers. Her anger and desire to hurt that girl made the hall catch fire. If it weren't for the Cleaners, magic would have been exposed and everyone would have known about witches.

So she'd learned to conceal her powers and not let her emotions get the best of her, just like her brothers and cousins. Now she had become very good at controlling her emotions and powers. She even went on a demon hunt a couple of times to help protect the country, and studied engineering to contribute to society the normal way. She knew her limits, and she definitely knew the dangers.

And yet there was an excitement about this whole thing that she couldn't hide. Up until this morning, all she could care about was trying to figure out where yesterday's vision came from and how it was related to the incidents.

But it was something much bigger. Much more serious than fighting your average demon, who's destructive power was tossing an energy ball that could incinerate any person it hit. So why was she feeling excited about this?

An unexpected voice startled her and she knocked over the mugs. Panicked, she watched as they fell towards the floor. Suddenly the mugs and water suspended in midair, inches away from meeting the ground. She looked up to find Chris at the doorway with one hand stretched out. She realized he used telekinesis to catch the mugs and water before they made a mess on the floor.

He gestured with his hand, and magically commanded the cups and water to levitate up to the table and slowly placed the mugs on the wooden surface before tossing the water back in their separate cups.

"Thanks," she said, feeling ashamed. "That was close."

"Yeah, tell me about it," he said. "Something on your mind? You seem distracted."

She shrugged. "The world is in danger."

He nodded while thinning his lips. "That would do it. Aunt Phoebe is making some calls to the Council. Hopefully they'll be able to find something. Dad is telling some of the teachers at Magic School to look into it, too."

She nodded. Everyone was on the job. They knew where to turn to when a problem arose. The question is what are they fighting against? Black vapors that possess and corrupt witches? Where should they even start looking for information on such things? Sandra did mention an on-going war. Perhaps there were records about that in their world?

"Wanna hit the _Book of Shadows_?" Chris suggested, almost like he was reading her mind.

It was actually a good idea. The _Book of Shadows_ had been handed down for generations. It even had spells for time travel and portal locating. Perhaps it had some information on interdimensional history. She handed the tray of teacups over to Chris. "That's a good idea. Here."

"Wha–"

"Thank you." She orbed up to the attic before he had the chance to protest. The ancient _Book_ lay rested on its book stand, where natural light shone down on its dark green leather hardcover and triquetra symbol embedded on the front. Many of her ancestors had written down their experiences and wisdom to pass on to the next generation. Over the centuries, it collected not only knowledge, but also the power to sense evil and to protect itself from landing in the wrong hands. She reached for the book, but the moment she touched it, her mind turned inward and brought her into a vision.

She saw Earth in orbit view, next to it was the moon half-covered in shadows, and the sun loomed in the distance. The image changed and she found herself looking at a different Earth before it zoomed in on a house. There was a sign at the gate written in what looked like Chinese. Up in one of the bedrooms, a short Chinese guy was playing games on his computer, and then all of a sudden his head dropped. A moment later, he looked up with a vicious expression. His eyes were glowing in the same way as the guy in Wyatt's video. A tall Chinese young man entered the room, and the corrupted guy immediately went for his throat. He was laughing a vicious laugh the whole time his friend was struggling to remove his hands. The image changed again to a young, 20-something, Chinese girl falling unconscious on a sofa then waking up in the same condition. In the corner stood PJ, Kat and herself, all three watching in horror as an elderly man and a middle-aged woman fended off the girl. _What am I looking at?_ She now found herself in some dark abandoned building. There were only two men in sight. The one with his back turned to her wore a leather jacket, boots and jeans covered in pitch black. The other guy donned a pure white outfit. Both were fighting each other with a lightsaber in their hands. The scene slightly resembled a _Star Wars_ movie. The guy in black attacked mercilessly, aiming to end his opponent's life. The other one deflected the attacks, but never found an opportunity to approach. The black guy slashed his saber sideways; the other backed away before it could slit his throat and stepped backward to avoid another attack. The black one struck directly in his next attack. The white one blocked the attack and their weapons held. The black one added more pressure to his lightsaber and forced the white one on his knees.

Just a little more and he will perish. Mel's heart ached.

She woke from the vision the same time a sudden explosion echoed from the ground floor. She wasted no time and orbed down to the main hall, and found three demons standing in front of her family in the conservatory. Their bodies were covered in dark energy. She heard more sounds from the kitchen and deduced there were more demons in the house. Her mom waved her hands to blast the ones in the conservatory to pieces, but the force only knocked them back a few steps. One of the demons attacked with a wave of kinetic energy at Kat, Tamora, Chris and Uncle Coop. Wyatt stepped forward and shielded them with his force field. A second demon sent a tongue of flames at Melinda's mom, but she blew it up before it could touch her. The impact of the explosion knocked them both off their feet.

Melinda frantically held her hand out to the couch in the living room, screaming "Couch" and threw it at the three demons. The large furniture instantly landed on top of them, pinning them down. Wyatt waved his hand and they instantly turned to piles of dust. Melinda started running toward the kitchen before a fourth demon got tossed out of there and cut off her pathway. Aunt Phoebe emerged in full fighting style. She had studied martial arts for self-defense when her powers were still passive, and had become a master over the years. Though battling demons were more effective in magic, combat skills were handy in certain situations.

Tamora came out to the dining room and destroyed the demon with her own explosive power. Another sound of explosion followed from the explosion, and Melinda barely saw the kitchen door fly off its hinges before it narrowly missed her and landed on Aunt Phoebe. She removed the broken door and helped her aunt to her feet before rushing into the kitchen. Aunt Paige and PJ were standing behind the kitchen island while Uncle Coop and Peyton huddled in the laundry room. The washing machine's mouth was dented and she could have sworn she smelled smoke coming from it. Or perhaps it was the three piles of ashes on the kitchen floor.

Aunt Phoebe followed right behind her. "Is everyone okay?"

"Where's my dad?" Melinda asked.

"Over here," he said as he exited the door leading to the basement with Parker in his arms. "There was one in the basement." She noticed then that her cousin was clutching to her abdomen. "Parker's hurt."

* * *

Aunt Paige healed Parker with her healing power. All Whitelighters supposedly had the gift, but Wyatt and Aunt Paige were the only ones in the family who did have it. Chris, Melinda and the twins never mastered that power. All they could do was watch them work her magic in the living room.

"There you go, all fixed up," said Aunt Paige.

Parker smiled.

"Those demons were seriously strong, I've never met anything such as those before," said Tamora. Kat, who was standing next to her sister, nodded.

Wyatt and Chris entered the kitchen then. "Yeah, and I think I know why," said her eldest brother. "This dark matter hasn't only been affecting witches. It also strengthened demons' powers. I just got a call from a friend of mine. He got attacked as well. Luckily, his Whitelighter got him out of there in time. I'm guessing those guys got cocky and decided to take on us now that they were more powerful."

Mom scoffed. "Typical. A little power boost, and suddenly they get confident enough to take on all of us at once."

Dad crossed his arms around his chest with a serious look.

"Is something wrong, Dad?" Chris asked.

He paused for a moment. "I worry that this is just the beginning. Like Sandra told us, these demonic entities come from another realm. We have no way of putting their invasion to a stop. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before they attack again. We should talk to the Elders and the Council to come up with a solution."

Melinda was anxious to do something. The next demon attack may include more than just blowing up the sunroom windows. Why couldn't demons use the front door like normal people? Then again, it was probably better that they announced themselves the way they did. Some demons fancied playing innocent roles to sneak up on their prey. She and her cousins had actually faced a few premature demons that looked like mortal children before one of them showed their snake tongue. Talk about an innocent face. Melinda snapped herself out of the memory to focus on the conversation.

The family discussion evolved into motion. Melinda's dad headed to Magic School to help the professors look through references on interdimensional matters. The place was protected by powerful magic that not only kept evil out, but also from everyone inside from dying, which was a perfect protection measure. Uncle Coop beamed back to Cupid's Temple to notify his fellow Cupids. While Cupids were angels of love and not allowed to participate in demon activity, he believed it was better to at least notify them. Uncle Henry took off for the police station to look for recent cases of violence in case of emergencies, and Wyatt went with him for his protection. Chris orbed up to the Upper Regions to console the Elders some more. That left Melinda, her mother, cousins, and aunts to themselves in the house.

Aunt Phoebe was the first to speak since the boys dispatched. "I think we should put a protection spell to ward off evil influences." Aunt Paige and Melinda's mom nodded the same time she turned to Parker and Peyton. "Can you help me in the kitchen?"

"I'll go down to the restaurant and get some apples for the spell," Mom suggested, already leaving.

"I'll come with you," Melinda offered eagerly, following her already.

"No, it's fine. You have studies to catch up on, and I'll have Aunt Paige with me." She chose that moment to walk past her to the door.

"But I–"

"Mel, I know you wanna help, and I know you've been trained, but you and your cousins have only ever dealt with mediocre class demons. This is very serious and your aunt and I are more experienced in this field." She grabbed a jacket off the hangar by the front door.

"But you just sent Wyatt and Chris on their solo missions."

She shook her head. "Wyatt is powerful enough to protect himself, and Chris only went to talk to the Elders. Besides, with everything going on, it's best for you guys to stay put and look into the _Book of Shadows_."

Melinda's anger was close to steaming. Was she being put in her place? How could she say she had more experience, when they were all trained to fight evil, because their moms knew they had to pick up the fight when they retired? Heck, she took down a demon earlier today with Tam. So why was she being ordered to stay at home, especially when her two brothers were out there doing something? She knew just as much as the rest of them on how handle dangerous situations. She wanted to yell… Yet there was a small bit of logic in her mom's words; at least the part about looking into the _Book of Shadows_. She hadn't even told anyone about the premonition yet. Or maybe she shouldn't for the time being. It wasn't like she understood any of it in the first place, other than a bunch of people were about to be turned.

Was she meant to save them? Was she supposed to find them and help them?

"Okay," she said, composing herself.

"Good, I knew I could count on you," her mom said and then went in for a hug.

When she finally took off with Aunt Paige, Melinda turned to the conservatory where her twin cousins were going through a bag of herbs on a small table.

"Hey, Tam, um, do you mind if I borrow Kat for a minute?" she asked, hoping to be as vague as possible. "I could use an extra pair of eyes for the _Book of Shadows_."

Tamora looked at Melinda confusedly then turned to her sister, and finally back to her. "Um, sure, I guess. Maybe Parker could help me with the herbs placing."

"Where's PJ, by the way?"

"Out in the garden, picking some fresh rosemary."

Melinda immediately went outside to collect her other cousin and ushered them both up the stairs. They looked confused, but nonetheless followed without questions. At least not until they reached the attic. "What is it?" PJ asked.

Melinda inhaled slowly. "I had another premonition. It happened right before we were attacked."

"What did you see?" Kat asked, curious now.

"Another world. I saw a group of people in the same house get turned. And I saw us there. We were watching a man and a woman fight off one of the corrupted."

Kat and PJ shared looks. No one talked for a moment.

"So, why didn't you tell the others?" PJ asked.

"It happened right before the attack. I didn't have time. Besides, I think there's a reason I saw the three of us." Ideas formed as she explained. "Maybe it was our doppelgängers from that world. Or maybe it was actually us over there. I don't know. What I do know is that whatever I saw hasn't happened yet."

Kat and PJ looked at her like she had lost her mind.

"So what do you think it all means?" Kat threaded her question carefully.

"I don't know. The vision came to me when I touched the _Book of Shadows_. I didn't even get the chance to open it."

An unexpected gust of wind flipped the _Book_ open like it had heard their conversation. It flipped and stopped on an obscured page. PJ looked up at the ceiling, knowing who had given them the magical assist. "Thanks, Grams."

The three cousins went to look at the page. It was the entry of a spell.

"Why would Grams show us a clarity spell?" Kat wondered. She couldn't understand the clue her dead great-grandmother was trying to send. She and her grandmother occasionally provided helpful tips in the _Book_ to from the life beyond if they needed it. Sometimes by magically adding new words to it, other times they would just flip it to the pages that would provide answers.

Melinda scanned the page, the words and their meanings. It provided clarity to the mind. She couldn't understand. What was Grams trying to show them? She considered summoning her spirit to ask her directly. But after so many years of guidance, the woman always knew what she was doing. Maybe they just needed to take a leap of faith.

She read the entry one more time and went to the large trunk in the corner where they kept most of their tools for spell casting.

"What are you doing?" PJ asked.

She opened the trunk and reached for a pot and a large blue cloth. "I want to try the spell."

"Why?"

With the cloth hanging on her arm, she used her free hand to lift the box that contained some saved up herbs. "Grams may be dead and her method is usually cryptic, but if she wants us to cast this spell, then there must be a reason. And I want to find out."

"Shouldn't we at least talk to my mom and see what she thinks?" PJ suggested feebly.

Melinda placed the pot on top of the box and lifted them with both hands. "She's busy. Besides, that vision I had clearly showed the three of us," She immediately went toward the small table on the other side of the room, "I don't think that's a coincidence. I think this clarity spell is going to give us answers."

When her cousins still looked unconvinced, she added, "Look, I would do the spell myself if I could, but it states clearly that someone else has to cast the spell. Please, I really need your help." She meant it. She would do the spell without them if it came to that. Unfortunately the spell had a distinct description about needing to be cast by someone in order to send the searcher on a quest.

Kat sighed and read the entry. Mel realized she had convinced one of her cousins to help her. "You need to light sandalwood, blue salt and billing's root. Once all three are burning, we'll start the spell."

PJ gaped with her mouth wide open for a moment then sighed in defeat. "Might as well."

Mel took out the noted ingredients, lit the piece of ginger and then placed it on the sandalwood and added the salt. The flames burned up a notch and changed from yellow orange to blue. Kat and PJ joined their hands and chanted together:

 _"Something special we must find"_

 _"Through forces of heavenly light."_

 _"Open a path to her mind"_

 _"To a better understanding, a soul so bright."_

The words glowed momentarily. Melinda expected a gust of wind, light swarming out of the _Book_ , or perhaps a portal looking into another world. Nevertheless, she wasn't expecting her mind to pull her into unconsciousness. She was back in the same house again. In the same living room where she witnessed the man and woman fought the corrupted girl. But there was no one this time. The room was completely vacant.

What was she supposed to learn from this? she wondered and started glancing around the place.

There was a small bulletin board with three papers of forbiddance orders pinned to it that hung on a wall between a door and a flight of stairs. The words printed on top of the papers were clearly written in Chinese. She looked around again. There was a small kitchen right next to the front door separated only by a short wall. In the far corner of the room was large table with at least eight seats. And she was standing in the center, surrounded by two sofas and a coffee table.

"Come here."

She startled. "Who's there?"

"Hurry."

There was a hint of familiarity to the voice. She couldn't quite put her finger on it though. Seeing no other option, she decided to follow it up the stairs. The upstairs hallway was grander than the second floor in her own house. It looked like a common room with couches, a small table, wooden dressers by the walls and a flat TV hung between two doors. A metal door suddenly materialized in the far wall. It had three numbers planted on it: 2-0-6. There were no handles though. Only a small pirate wheel built in the center of it.

"This is it." That voice again.

Someone materialized. It was herself. Standing right in front of the door.

"Who are you?" Melinda asked. Was this a trick? It couldn't be. The spell was meant to give her clarity. But it only caused more confusion. Nevertheless the resemblance between her and the girl was too identical.

"It's going to happen soon," she said. "This door will bring you here. And you _must_ come here. The key to ending the great war lies in this world, and you three are the only ones with the power to do it. Soon the Elders will assemble a spell to ensure absolute isolation from the worlds. If that happens…" she trailed off, and instead pointed to the door.

It opened and showed a completely different image. Melinda could see into it. People, magical beings, demons, witches, all of them corrupted and fought each other like savages. Monumental buildings destroyed. Fire burned as widely as the sea all around the land. Melinda covered her mouth as she gasped in horror.

"The dark power will continue to grow. And in a few years, it will break through our world's defenses and destroy everything."

The image past the door changed to herself and her family. All of them had black vapors around their bodies. Their expressions were dark and devoid of emotion. Their mothers stood on top of Twin Peaks as they joined hands and sent massive waves of destructive power down on the land below. The city exploded, buildings collapsed and horrified screams echoed everywhere. It was hell on Earth.

"No," she screamed.

She found herself back in the attic, with her cousins standing by the _Book of Shadows_ and looking worriedly at her. She could feel her body tremor in horror by what she just witnessed. It was all too horrible.

PJ rushed over to wrap her arms around her. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Melinda couldn't find the words to describe how she was feeling.


	5. Chapter 5

Kat felt the shivers crawl down her spine after Melinda explained everything that happened in the vision. It was hard to imagine hell on Earth. Her mother had taken her and Tam to the Underworld before to practice fighting evil, and though the place was brooding and always met with deadly fires that left a grand impression to one's imaginations of darkness, a world buried in flames was impossible for her mind to comprehend.

She couldn't look away from her cousin. "Are you sure that's what you saw?" she asked.

Melinda nodded. "I'm positive. It happened before my very eyes. Like I astral projected into the dream world."

Kat pushed her own unnerving feelings aside to focus on the bigger picture. Clearly, her cousin had seen the future. One where they all will become corrupted by the dark force. And the three of them needed to venture off to another world to find a way to prevent it. But something didn't add up. Why do they need to travel to another universe to stop it? The influence came from the great war, so shouldn't they be going to the battleground instead? What was the connection?

A sudden blue light flashed from outside the window for a split second, alerting them.

"What was that?" Kat wondered.

"That would be the protection spell they just placed around the house," PJ answered calmly. "Remember? They were in the middle of preparing it when we came up here. Your mom and Kat's mom went to get apples for the spell. If the spell is active, that probably means they're back."

Kat and Melinda nodded. No one spoke for a moment.

Kat resumed the subject. "So what should we do now?"

Melinda looked thoughtfully into thin air. "We go to that other world."

"What?" PJ said loudly. "Whoa, wait a minute. Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself? It's a very risky mission, not to mention we don't know what it's like over there."

Kat mentally agreed with her cousin. The idea of going to another world was insane.

"We can't stay here and let the world end. Whatever we need to do isn't here. My vision self said that we need to be there. Honestly, I don't see much of an option."

 _Was there really no other way?_ Kat wondered. _Is this really our only option? Could they even do such a thing?_

She suddenly felt like a boulder had been dropped on her shoulders and pinned her to the ground. They were all taught to fight, but Kat had never been that good at fighting. What was she supposed to do if they really went there? Battling evil was inevitable, but would she be able to do it without screwing things up?

Someone entered the room before the conversation could get further. It was Aunt Piper. Kat felt her heart sink down her stomach. She glanced back and forth between Kat standing by the _Book_ and PJ and Melinda at the table. "Hey, girls. Parker told me you were looking in the _Book of Shadows_ , but it seems like something more is going on here." Melinda had her back facing her mom. PJ sat there like an uncertain mediator who looked like she might poop her pants if she didn't get out of the way soon.

Kat pursed her lips into a thin line, unsure whether to keep it a secret or just spill the beans. Melinda met her eyes with a solemn look. Something about her expression said that her mom wasn't going to be thrilled when they told her what they did.

"I can smell smoke. Did you guys cast a spell?" Aunt Piper spoke with a slightly demanding tone. When they still refused to talk, she asked again, "What did you girls _do_?"

* * *

They gathered everyone in the house up in the attic before they started explaining. Every second they told the story, Aunt Piper's face reddened with rage. At least she waited until they finished explaining before she started wailing like a siren. "Are you three completely, absolutely and utterly out of your minds? Going to another world to change the course of the war is INSANE!"

Kat looked at her sister across the room. She had the calm expression on, but Kat knew she was anything but on the inside. Melinda was still kneeled down by the table, with Kat's mom sitting next to her and PJ. Aunt Phoebe stood near the door with Peyton and Parker.

"You know what, I know whose fault this is," Aunt Piper turned away from them and yelled to the ceiling. "Sandra, wherever you are, whatever you're doing–I don't give a damn–get your ass down here this instant!"

The Elder descended into the attic in orbs and materialized in front of them. "Is there a problem?" she asked calmly despite the insult. Kat couldn't help but admire her demeanor.

Aunt Piper approached slowly with hands on her hips to show her own posture. She meant business and when her anger was atop, it was best not to provoke her too much if you wanted your limbs intact. "The Elders. You sent those visions to my daughter, didn't you? You told her to go to another world to stop this war, which has nothing to do with us in the first place. I thought after everything that happened, the Elders and the Tribunal and everyone in between wasn't supposed to tamper with witches' destinies anymore. What, did you not enjoy having your puppets' strings cut off from your hands and decided to reattach them?"

Sandra lifted her hands in a calming gesture. "Piper, please calm down. It is true the Elders have tampered with your generation's destinies, but I can absolutely assure you that your daughter's visions are not our doing."

Aunt Piper didn't look reassured. If anything, she was even more furious. Aunt Phoebe wasted no time to come in between them and nudge her sister back. Kat's mom rubbed PJ's shoulders calmly. Tamora joined Kat by the _Book_. The tension was really uncomfortable.

"If your daughter is having premonitions, I don't know what they're about. I can only say it may be that her visions are leading her down her own path. The way you always wanted for your family and other witches."

Aunt Phoebe rubbed her sister's shoulders gently. She was the peacekeeper around the house. Her daughters had learned that from both her and their dad. Kat admired them for that principle. Her mother had taught her and her sister to harness their magic and use them to help others in need without exposing themselves. Aunt Piper taught hers to live independently and follow through their own passions, because emotions are what make us strong, hence her anger. But she also tried to separate their lives from magic as much as possible, even in the most needed situations.

"They're not going anywhere," Aunt Piper insisted, "This is not something we should just do. We fought like hell to make sure our lives would be easier."

"Mom, don't you get it?" Melinda jumped to her feet so fast PJ nearly lost her balance. Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe looked over their shoulders. "It's not going to get any easier henceforth. You always told me that magic works in mysterious ways to guide us. This is it. It's flapping a flag and stomping the ground to get our attention. We can't ignore it."

Aunt Piper didn't look convinced. She turned back to the Elder. "There's gotta be a way to isolate ourselves from all this."

"Mom!"

Aunt Piper lifted her finger at Melinda without looking away. "You said there were guardians who put wards up. Is there a way to strengthen those wards and keep the invasions out?"

Sandra deliberated that. "I believe there is a way."

"Mom!" Melinda repeated. They still ignored her.

Kat shook her head disbelievingly. She was clearly shutting her daughter out of the conversation, and refusing to listen to reason. Traveling to another world was not the best idea of the century, but her refusal was ridiculous. Why won't she listen? And she was actually going to close them off from the outside worlds? According to Mel, the method would only work temporarily, and when the dark entities became powerful enough to break through, they would all be in danger. She'd be turning them into sitting ducks.

"Good. Let's do that. We'll build our forces in the meantime and when they do break through, we'll be ready."

"Wait," Aunt Phoebe interrupted, holding up her hand to halt their conversation. "Before we decide on anything, let's go over our options." Aunt Piper looked at her sister incredulously, like she had lost her mind. "We know the situation is very bad right now, and it's only getting worse by the second. We certainly don't want any surprises from the enemy, but locking ourselves away won't do any good in the long term. If what Melinda said is true, it's only a matter of time before the great war turns in evil's favor. And then the balance will tip over to their side."

Aunt Piper still looked furious, but remained composed and seemed to soften some a moment later. "So what do you suggest we do?"

Kat's mother joined Aunt Piper and Phoebe at their side. Kat noticed right then that she had been calm and pacifistic the whole time while her sister was yelling. How does she do that? she wondered. "Maybe we should look into this other world that Mel saw first and learn more about it. What is there, what it's like, and everything in between so that we won't be caught by surprises." She turned to Sandra. "Is it possible to do it?"

Sandra nodded. "We can certainly do that."

Aunt Phoebe nodded. "Then let's do that for now. In the meantime, it's probably better to keep watch on the incidents and keep them under control. We'll talk to the Council and have them spread out agents everywhere to keep watch. And maybe someone should go to whoever is maintaining the wards and find out what they know."

The Elder nodded again then orbed out of the house. Melinda crossed her arms and glared at her mom, but didn't say anything. The others remained quiet as well. Somehow the situation wasn't relieving. Aunt Piper met her daughter's eyes. Kat ached to go between them and break up the silent argument. Yet she feared to get in the crossfire. Man, she wished she could freeze witches like she could warlocks and demons. But even her powers failed to freeze fully at times. Melinda headed out the room without another word, tension finally ending. At least for the moment. Kat exhaled in relief.


	6. Chapter 6

Melinda didn't walk out of the front door. She went directly into her old room at the far end of the hallway. _How could she just ignore me like that?_ Her mind replayed the exchange between her mother and the Elder. She was completely paying no heed to her warning, and on top of that, she was shuffled off the conversation. It was like she didn't exist. Someone knocked on the door, but she refused to answer. She wanted to be alone.

"Honey, please open the door and let's talk," said her mom. "Mel."

 _Terrific._ Now she wanted to answer even less.

"Open the door, young lady!" When she called her _young lady_ , she meant business. Not wanting another loud noise from her mother's mouth or risk her door getting blown to smithereens, she magically willed it open without looking. She could hear her mom's footsteps, but refused to look.

"Sweetie, I don't understand why you're upset," she asked. "I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

 _From what?_ she wondered mentally. "Mom, don't you get it? You acted like what I said didn't matter. Aunt Phoebe could see that strengthening the wards wouldn't help, but you were willing to jeopardize it instead of considering my idea."

"Mel, you don't know what's in that world. For all we know, you could be walking right into a trap. It wouldn't be the first time someone tricked us. Even your aunt couldn't prevent that from happening from time to time."

Melinda exhaled to quench her anger. It won't do any good right now. "Maybe, but it's not something I can just ignore. I've been having this feeling that there's something I have to do lately." It was hard to explain. She had actually been a little antsy lately, which was why she went on more demon hunts all week. But even with all the vanquishing, that feeling that nagged at her never really disappeared. "I don't know what it is. It's just been making me want to do things, and when I had that vision, it felt like 'this is it'. I think my instincts have been telling me to do this. Not because I'm a witch or because this is some fun trip, but because it involves the whole world. You always told us to follow our instincts, well, this is the one for me."

Her mom sighed. Her eyes were gentle and resigned. "Let's go over all of our options before we decide on anything, okay?" She brushed her hand on Melinda's back comfortably, and then walked out.

Melinda knew her mom was having reservations, but from the way she spoke, she seemed to have lost some of that conviction. With a little more pushing, perhaps she would see her point. _Not tonight,_ she thought. There's been enough arguing for one night.

* * *

They gathered everyone in the house up in the attic before they started explaining. Every second they told the story, Aunt Piper's face reddened with rage. At least she waited until they finished explaining before she started wailing like a siren. "Are you three completely, absolutely and utterly out of your minds? Going to another world to change the course of the war is INSANE!"

Kat looked at her sister across the room. She had the calm expression on, but Kat knew she was anything but on the inside. Melinda was still kneeled down by the table, with Kat's mom sitting next to her and PJ. Aunt Phoebe stood near the door with Peyton and Parker.

"You know what, I know whose fault this is," Aunt Piper turned away from them and yelled to the ceiling. "Sandra, wherever you are, whatever you're doing–I don't give a damn–get your ass down here this instant!"

The Elder descended into the attic in orbs and materialized in front of them. "Is there a problem?" she asked calmly despite the insult. Kat couldn't help but admire her demeanor.

Aunt Piper approached slowly with hands on her hips to show her own posture. She meant business and when her anger was atop, it was best not to provoke her too much if you wanted your limbs intact. "The Elders. You sent those visions to my daughter, didn't you? You told her to go to another world to stop this war, which has nothing to do with us in the first place. I thought after everything that happened, the Elders and the Tribunal and everyone in between wasn't supposed to tamper with witches' destinies anymore. What, did you not enjoy having your puppets' strings cut off from your hands and decided to reattach them?"

Sandra lifted her hands in a calming gesture. "Piper, I am afraid I am not following."

Kat's mother took the lead in the conversation. "Melinda just told us that she's been having premonitions about some war in a faraway world."

Sandra raised her eyebrows, and then she picked up Aunt Piper's hint. "Piper, please calm down. It is true the Elders have tampered with your generation's destinies, but I can absolutely assure you that your daughter's visions are not our doing."

Aunt Piper didn't look reassured. If anything, she was even more furious. Aunt Phoebe wasted no time to come in between them and nudge her sister back. Kat's mom rubbed PJ's shoulders calmly. Tamora joined Kat by the _Book_. The tension was really uncomfortable.

"If your daughter is having premonitions, I don't know what they're about. I can only say it may be that her powers are guiding her down her own path. The way you always wanted for your family and other witches."

Aunt Phoebe rubbed her sister's shoulders gently. She was the peacekeeper in the house. Her daughters had learned that from both her and their dad. Kat admired them for that principle. Her mother had taught her and her sister to harness their magic and use them to help others in need without exposing themselves. Aunt Piper taught hers to live independently and follow through their own passions, because emotions are what make us strong, hence her anger. But she also tried to separate their lives from magic as much as possible, even in the most needed situations.

"They're not going anywhere," Aunt Piper insisted, "This is not something we should just do. We fought like hell to make sure our lives would be easier."

"Mom, don't you get it?" Melinda jumped to her feet so fast PJ nearly lost her balance. Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe looked over their shoulders. "It's not going to get any easier henceforth. You always told me that magic works in mysterious ways to guide us. This is it. It's flapping a flag and stomping the ground to get our attention. We can't ignore it."

Aunt Piper didn't look convinced. She turned back to the Elder. "There's gotta be a way to isolate ourselves from all this."

"Mom!"

Aunt Piper lifted her finger at Melinda without looking away. "You said there were guardians who put wards up. Is there a way to strengthen those wards and keep the invasions out?"

Sandra deliberated that. "I believe there is a way."

"Mom!" Melinda repeated. They still ignored her.

Kat shook her head disbelievingly. She was clearly shutting her daughter out of the conversation, and refusing to listen to reason. Traveling to another world was not the best idea of the century, but her refusal was ridiculous. Why won't she listen? And she was actually going to close them off from the outside worlds? According to Mel, the method would only work temporarily, and when the dark entities became powerful enough to break through, they would all be in danger. She'd be turning them into sitting ducks.

"Good. Let's do that. We'll build our forces in the meantime and when they do break through, we'll be ready."

"Wait," Aunt Phoebe interrupted, holding up her hand to halt their conversation. "Before we decide on anything, let's go over our options." Aunt Piper looked at her sister incredulously, like she had lost her mind. "We know the situation is very bad right now, and it's only getting worse by the second. We certainly don't want any surprises from the enemy, but locking ourselves away won't do any good in the long term. If what Melinda said is true, it's only a matter of time before the great war turns in evil's favor. And then the balance will tip over to their side."

Aunt Piper still looked furious, but remained composed and seemed to soften some a moment later. "So what do you suggest we do?"

Kat's mother joined Aunt Piper and Phoebe at their side. Kat noticed right then that she had been calm and pacifistic the whole time while her sister was yelling. How does she do that? she wondered. "Maybe we should look into this other world that Mel saw first and learn more about it. What is there, what it's like, and everything in between so that we won't be caught by surprises." She turned to Sandra. "Is it possible to do it?"

Sandra nodded. "We can certainly do that."

Aunt Phoebe nodded. "Then let's do that for now. In the meantime, it's probably better to keep watch on the incidents and keep them under control. We'll talk to the Council and have them spread out agents everywhere to keep watch. And maybe someone should go to whoever is maintaining the wards and find out what they know."

The Elder inclined her agreement. Then Aunt Piper lifted a finger.

"One more thing. We need to find out whether or not Melinda's visions are natural. I want to know whether it is her own powers' doing or the makings of the same evil behind all of this.

The Elder nodded again and then orbed out. Melinda crossed her arms and glared at her mom, but didn't say anything. The others remained quiet as well. Somehow the situation wasn't relieving. Aunt Piper met her daughter's eyes. Kat ached to go between them and break up the silent argument. Yet she feared to get in the crossfire. Man, she wished she could freeze witches like she could warlocks and demons. But even her powers failed to freeze fully at times.

Melinda stormed out of the room without another word. The tension finally ended. At least for the moment. Kat exhaled in relief.


	7. Chapter 7

Kat sighed as she hopped out of her bed to get ready for class. World crisis or not, someone needed to study if they wanted to keep up with their grades. She was already on the failing side of the term. And yesterday's apocalyptic problem ruined all of her study plans. Heck, the whole thing left her scathed with an emotional shock.

After brushing her teeth and getting into her favorite indigo top on record time, Kat headed out. She had just entered the main hall and was walking toward the front door when she realized she had forgotten her textbooks and book bag, which were back in the dorm room. Grunting in frustration, she opted orbing to save time. _Except Mom would kill you for using magic for personal gain,_ her conscience told her.

"Ah, screw it." She headed straight for the girls' bathroom, and found an empty bathroom stall. Since she didn't want anyone to notice a blue glow of light, she climbed on top of the toilet seat and quickly teleported.

It was a good thing her roommate was back home visiting her family. Otherwise her magical appearance would have roused a ton of questions she wouldn't know how to answer. She was well aware of the cosmic consequences caused by using magic for personal gain. The prices varied depending on the majority of magic involved. Most times the results were minor, such as a spell gone awry or an unrelated person got caught in the middle, but sometimes they were also severe on a catastrophic scale. Her sister accidentally caused a fire and nearly burned down the house when they were infants and just coming into their gifts. The result forced their mother to bind their powers because she and their dad believed it was too dangerous for them to have magic at such a young age. They first got their powers back when they were thirteen and deemed _old enough_. It took years to catch up to their cousins, all of whom had magic all their lives. She wondered why their mothers didn't bind their powers. One time Tam asked them the question. Their answers were things like, "Parents want what's best for their kids" or "You're too young to understand".

Kat snapped herself out of the memory and ran back out again. She was _so_ late.

* * *

PJ watched Bart from a yard away while he checked his phone. The courtyard was vacant, except for a few people who lingered about. Her heart pumped like a jackhammer. Her head was practically spinning and her vision almost blurred with a dizzy spell.

 _I like you, Bart._ Four simple words. Those were all she had to say for Bart to know how she felt about him. She could already see all the possible outcomes. The possibilities and calamities her confession might cause.

But she would rather focus on the good right now. Last night had prompted her to pull up her girly panties and do what she felt was right. If Bart felt the same way about her, she might even be able to talk her cousin out of the stupid idea. They could work something out. Their parents always knew what to do. So why couldn't they solve this problem too? They shouldn't have to leave an entire world behind just to put an end to an everlasting intergalactic war that good and evil in some foreign universe had been fighting.

At least that's what she told herself.

She forced herself to place one foot in front of the other, walking toward the boy who had won her affection since the first day they met in freshman orientation class. It was a wonder they were into the same sports, she thought then.

It must be fate.

She focused on walking. Bart interrupted her approach when he turned, saw her and stopped. She halted. Her throat squeezed her windpipe, making it difficult to breathe. Her whole body froze.

 _Why can't I do this? What the hell is wrong with me?_

"Hey, Halliwell, what's up?" Bart said in that cheerful tone that always followed that heart-melting grin of his.

 _I like you, Bart. I like you, Bart._ PJ opened her mouth. _I like you, Bart._

"Hey, Bart."

Bart turned toward the voice and flashed that same smile at the stranger. It was an African-American girl with dyed brown curls and a sweater so modest it could only fit a model. They embraced with one arm and then Bart kissed her. On the lips.

PJ's heart sank to her stomach as she felt like she had been struck by lightning.

They separated and stared into each other's eyes. Like there was no one else around. Except she was right next to them.

"Oh, sorry, PJ, this is my girlfriend, Cecilia," Bart introduced. "PJ is on the girls' volleyball team. We sometimes hang out with them to discuss mutual interests."

Cecilia held out her hand. PJ stared at it for a moment, her sickening feeling still pulled at her sanity. She finally found the strength to take Cecilia's hand. They shook.

Cecilia had a plain smile plastered on her face. "It's nice to meet you."

PJ struggled to clear her throat, to say something back. Something snarky and rude, and probably a lie about Bart to send her packing. "It's nice to meet you too." She pulled back her hand. "So, how long have you two been together?"

"Oh, it's a recent thing," Bart explained. "I went to the historical museum to see some new exhibits it got, and she happened to be there. It was amazing… she could identify one item and the other just by looking at them. She was practically a historian." He went babbling about Cecilia's great qualities, all the while sinking PJ's heart to the bottom of her belly. Suddenly, she wasn't listening to him brag about his girlfriend anymore. She was hearing herself crying in the depths of her mind.

"I'm sorry," she interrupted. "I gotta go. I need to get home for something really important."

She strode away from the sickening couple without waiting for an answer. She kept her breath intact the whole way. When she turned the corner, she finally let it out and tears broke out of her eyes.

She kept walking.

* * *

Melinda wasn't focusing on the lecture. She just kept scribbling the triquetra symbol in her notebook. Her mind kept wandering away from the classroom to the U-turn that led back to that house in her vision. What was her vision self trying to tell her? The key to ending the war was there? If so, then were was it?

A loud tap on her desk snapped Mel back to reality. The engineering professor gave her a stern stare.

"Miss Halliwell, which one of the three microchips was necessary for the Navar Van's functionality?"

She spaced out of most of the lecture. She hadn't listened to a word the professor said since the minute she settled in her seat. She caught the other students watching her through her periphery. They were probably eager to see something fun in the midst of a boring class. Someone would embarrass themselves by giving the wrong answer. Except she had spent enough time studying to know the answer.

"The van's functionality is generally activated by the standard microchip. However, for the van to continue functioning, the chip that is necessary for the task is the motion chip which is separate in its task to keep the vehicle running while the standard microchip can only start it," she answered.

The professor raised his eyebrows with an impressed look. "Well, I see you've been studying." He turned his back on her and walked away.

Melinda rested her chin on her hand and resumed doodling in her notebook.

It did not take long for her mind to wander back that visionary place.

* * *

In the midst of the attic that hid the Halliwell family's _Book of Shadows_ , one of many artifacts of magic hidden around the Manor, something found its way into the house's walls. It broke through the wall in the far corner of the room and built in size until it reached head height and solidified into a metallic door with a wheel handle in the center and the number 2-0-6 embedded on top of it. The door from Melinda's vision had found its way into their world. And soon, the inevitable will follow.


	8. Chapter 8

Chris dodged a flying fireball. It hit the wall behind him and exploded, literally shattering bricks and left a hole big enough to swallow a person.

He ran himself toward the hole to hide in it. The sound of sparkling eneryballs and flaming fireballs echoed in the distance. And they were coming closer. He barely made it through the hole and barricaded himself from the attacks when they hit the opposite wall.

He glanced through the cracks at the three unconscious Witch Council agents who were sent to Switzerland with him to investigate another hijacking incident. They were outnumbered two demons and three witches, all of whom were empowered by the dark matter.

"Wyatt! I could really use your help here," he screamed. His periphery vision noticed an energyball coming his way, and immediately jumped backward as the wall hiding him exploded. The debris hit him hard in the guts. He fell on the ground, doubling over in pain. The possessed demons and witches approached him, with dark gazes on their eyes.

 _Oh no, I'm gonna die here,_ he thought. "Wyatt! Mel! Mom! Dad!"

One of the demons raised his hand and formed another energyball in his palm. Chris wasn't about to give in. He fought through the pain to fling his arm and send the demon flying back through the hole. The others gazed at their comrade nonchalantly and then turned back to him. One of the witches flung her arm and Chris found his back meeting the wall behind him before he could react. Pain vibrated throughout his body. He wasn't sure if his insides were where they were anymore. The demon and witches then formed their individual energyballs and fireballs, gazes intently focused on finishing the task. They had already taken out the three agents, and now he was next.

And his death will be painful.

Just as the possessed ones readied to throw their magical weapons, Chris found himself dissolving into a thousand tiny orbs of light and then reformed in his older brother's arms.

"Hey, man," his brother greeted.

He carefully placed Chris on the ground then stepped over him toward the enemy. Chris followed his brother with his gaze and saw the five possessed ones staring at him with deadly glares.

"No, don't," Chris said, fighting back the pain that made it hard to speak. "They're very strong. You can't handle them by yourself."

Wyatt's raised his hands that now glowed with power. The possessed ones built energy in their hands too. Chris fought the pain to stand back up. He hadn't even reached knee level when the powers clashed and resulted in another explosion. Wyatt staggered backward by a few steps, but quickly found his footing.

One of the possessed witches threw another fireball. Chris immediately flipped his hand to redirect it to a wall on the side. The explosion resulted in another giant hole. Wyatt flung his hands hard; raw golden energy emitted and knocked the enemies back several yards.

"Potions!"

Chris saw five vials of potion appeared above the possessed ones and dropped on them. Blue energy enveloped their bodies, and soon turned into black vapor. Chris recognized them as the dark entities that took over their bodies as the potions forced them out of their hosts. The vapor hovered in the air for a moment, and then started swirling around each other in a spiraling loop. The movement grew faster and faster by every second until they finally became a blur. Suddenly it shot toward the sky.

Chris felt his legs again and struggled through the pain to stand back up. His brother grabbed his arm and helped pull him up.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Chris winced. "I just got my ass kicked by five people. Imagine the bruises I carry inside and out."

They laughed.

* * *

PJ wiped her nose. It was so hard to stop crying.

 _Why won't it stop?_ she thought.

Not just the crying, but also the hurting. Her chest heaved with desperate in- and exhale for fresh oxygen every passing second. It was like her heart had been ripped right out of her chest and stomped into an unrecognizable shape.

At least no one saw her. She had managed to hide in the bathroom and then beam back up to her dorm room before anyone noticed. Her roommate was conveniently out to class, and usually stayed outside until evening due to full afternoon classes. It gave her plenty of time to drown in sorrow. She knew how selfish it was focus on her own matters of the heart when there were more serious problems at hand.

And the worst part was… she didn't care. Her heart was shattered beyond repair. How was she supposed to recover from that? The guy she had feelings for since day one in college was already in a relationship. All because she never had the guts to tell him how she felt after pining for him for over a year. She liked how good he looked even when he looked ragged after practice. Their mutual interests in sports helped them build a friendship. She was glad to have had the chance to get close to him.

Now she just wished she could use magic to take his heart. But the rules of love magic were very clear: one cannot mess with what was not meant to be. Love was best won by mutual interests. That was one of her mother's words in her old book. She followed through them all. And they all backfired.

Her phone rang. PJ waited a moment before deciding to check it. Maybe something happened. It might be good to have a little distraction.

* * *

Paige and Phoebe took in the scenery of the Fortress of the Wards after she arrived at the closest receiving point at the foot of the twenty stories high mountain. Clear clouds swirled around the ancient castle surrounded by high trees in the hidden depths of the Russian wilderness. She was taken aback by its ginormous structure. It looked about fifteen levels tall and so wide it covered most of the mountain top. Not that she could tell much from where she was standing. According to the Elders, the Fortress was protected from teleporters, which was why they had to orb as close as the wards allowed and then travel by foot.

"Would you look at that thing," said her sister, exasperated. "And here I thought that big castle from the Middle Ages was impressive enough."

Paige snorted. She remembered that trip well enough. It was the day she accidentally summoned the prince of that era to the present after her past incarnation cast a love spell on him. Since they were of the same soul, the prince lusted after her instead. And to make matters worse, her past self was an evil enchantress who wanted the kingdom for herself and went to find the prince.

She and her sisters went through a lot of trouble to find the witch and stop her from altering history.

 _Those were the days,_ she thought before snapping back to the present and their goal. The Elders had sent them to talk to the guardians to find out what they knew about the demonic parasites that breached the wards and possessed people around the world. The situation was urgent for everyone.

"Come on, I see a path." Paige started toward the edge of the woods.

Phoebe followed. "Doesn't that remind you of Glynnis's fortress in Nepal?"

"A little, but, you know, that place was rigged with traps, so let's hope this one doesn't send us somewhere we can't get back from."

Phoebe scoffed. "Wouldn't want that to happen."

Striding up the trail, Paige wished she had brought hiking boots instead of tennis shoes. At least she chose the appropriate vest and jacket to keep warmth. She and Phoebe went on a trip to an ice cave about twenty years ago, before she met her husband. That trip was based on her instinct about a group of cruel Greek Titans whom were reawakened from their slumber and posed a threat to the world's peace. Leo had to give them godlike powers to help them defeat someone as powerful. This trip was pretty much the same, but at least the climate was nicer.

They were halfway up the trail when they came across a stream separating them from the path. Paige looked further up and spotted a wooden bridge that mended the separation. As they walked closer, Paige noticed there were carvings on the bridge's rails. It was filled with symbols that resembled Celtic elements. Protection and good luck.

"Who goes there!"

They stopped. A young man materialized in front of them on the beginning of the bridge. His metal garment and long blade indicated he was the guard – if his stern look wasn't any indication. _This may not be as easy as we think._

"You will not pass this path. Turn away," the guard said.

Paige shrugged and told him, "Sorry, can't. We're sent by the Elders to find out which one of your bosses turned a blind eye and let demonic parasites into our realm."

The guard remained in his post, but his posture softened. Paige mentally admired his loyalty.

"You are here in regards to the abnormalities that have occurred in the few days of past." He looked over his shoulder into the wide woods behind the bridge. He sighed before facing them. "Forgive me, madams. Please allow me to take you to the _Custos_."

" _Custos_?"

"The ones who manage the _tutela_ from the Fortress."

Paige wasn't familiar with the word, but it seemed to be Latin. "Okay, please show us the way."

The guard waved a hand at the bridge, and then a portal popped up on the other end. It showed the image of a medieval hallway. _Must be the inside of the Fortress._

"Just step on through and you will be directly led to the _custos_."

Phoebe inclined her head to the outdated man. "Thank you for your assistance, kind sir." She started toward the bridge.

Paige was about to follow when she realized she should show the same courtesy, and bowed her head before striding after her sister. They crossed the bridge and stepped through the portal together.

Paige took a moment to assert their surroundings. Tall ceilings supported by wood beams, black brick walls made up the whole room. There were even large windows that showed the cloudy outdoors. _Definitely medieval,_ she thought.

"Welcome," said a soft voice. "I am _Custos_ Ava."

Paige and Phoebe looked and found a blond woman close to their age twenty feet away from where they were standing. She was wearing a gray robe with a hood. Behind the woman were two twenty feet tall double doors.

"Hello, we're here for–"

"We know why you're here," she interrupted. "We sensed a breach in our wards. Please, come this way." Ava flicked her fingers at the doors, and they swung open at the same time. Paige noticed that she was wearing black gloves.

They followed her into a grand hall, accompanied by people who wore the same outfits. Ava left them and joined her peers. An older man stepped forward.

"Welcome, Charmed Ones. I am _Custos_ Ephrem," he said.

"How did you–," Paige started.

"You _are_ quite well known in the lands of magic. Now, I understand you are here in regards to the demonic invasions that broke through our protection,"

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, there have been a series of possessions and attacks all around the world. Witches and demons alike get their bodies taken over, and they attack everyone they see. Whitelighters are scattered all around the world to watch over their charges, but the Elders and the Witch Council are very concerned."

Ephrem nodded. "It is concerning indeed. We have provided protection to the world for eons. There had been incidents where foreign evil found a weak point to come through, but even so those intruders would have been severely weakened by the protective magic. The entities today are different. They did not find a weak point. We sensed a breach in the wards that were strong and impossible to break through."

"You mean they, like, punched a hole in the protection wards?" Paige asked.

He confirmed with a nod.

Paige fought the shivers that threatened to crawl up her skin. "Is there anything to be done?"

He looked to his friends again. Paige and Phoebe didn't say anything.

"There is."


	9. Chapter 9

Melinda sat quietly on the couch in the Witch Council head's office while her parents, aunts and the current head of the council talked with Sandra. Wyatt and Chris went off to prepare more dispossession potions. It was a good thing Wyatt thought of that. He had assumed that since the demons were basically parasites, dispossession potions would be enough to rip them out of their host bodies–a point that was proven valid. But even with this knowledge, it was only a temporary fix. They needed to come up with a real plan. That was why she stayed behind at the meeting instead of joining her brothers for the preparations. Sandra had come to deliver some of the Elders' newfound intel on the parallel dimension. According to her, the man Melinda saw was the single most powerful witch in that world. His power could literally split the world open with just the brush of a hand.

"So this warrior witch Melinda saw is the one who is leading the good army?" Melinda's mom asked.

She nodded. "It is safe to say that her visions are not an influence of external forces, only her own natural talent. I am assuming her premonitions were dormant before because there was no sense of real danger until the invasions began."

Melinda couldn't help but feel a sense of thrill from within. This was the first time she had a vision. Her mom told her that she could orb objects around already at infancy, and she learned to hover and orb herself at an early age. She could hardly remember such things from such a young age, so this was new. She got a new power. And yet the timing couldn't be more pressing. It certainly would explain why they started just as extraterrestrial forces came to earth.

Her mom looked over her shoulders and met her eyes for a moment and then looked back to Sandra. Her dad glanced her way with a prideful expression on his face.

 _At least someone's happy for me._

"So what else did you find out?" Lila, the head of the Witch Council, asked.

Sandra didn't speak for a moment, but her serious look called for dramatic effect. "The witches in that realm, the ones who did not join the army, had somehow been diminished of their original power level."

"What does that mean?" Melinda asked.

"Upper-level witches lost their original levels of power and became severely weakened. They are still more powerful than ordinary witches, but not as strong as before the war started."

"How did that happen?" Aunt Paige asked the question that Melinda was on the tip of asking.

Sandra shook her head. "I'm afraid we don't know. As far as we're concerned, their world is left defenseless with few to guard it."

Melinda's dad crossed his arms around his chest. "What about their Whitelighters?"

"Unlike our world, the witches there have no guardians. Their ancestors didn't come into their magic through direct contact with the source, but through practice and self-development over the millennia. Because of that, their magic is very different from yours, and the angelic beings of that realm only watch over their world's condition, but nothing more than that. There is something else: about twenty years ago, witches all over were exposed to the open, and though few got hurt, they were all forced into oppression by mortals. Magic became a taboo and they were all forced blend in with modern society, no longer allowed to practice their craft even by their own kind's consent. Those who rebelled were captured and confined in solitary."

Melinda was caught off guard. Witches who were left to fend for themselves? She tried to picture a world where witches were left to fend for themselves, with no Whitelighters to watch over them… and failed. She met her dad's eyes, and saw the same confusion on his face. He couldn't imagine it either.

"So what is the connection? Why is Melinda getting visions from that world?" Aunt Phoebe asked directly.

Sandra met Melinda's eyes. "While looking into that world, we sensed that something is on the verge of awakening. Something powerful. It might be the very thing that's going to tip the balance in good's favor, and end the war permanently. Assuming evil doesn't acquire it first."

* * *

Kat read the recipe on dispossession potions one more time before handing over a pinch of juniper berries to PJ. The Witch Council's kitchen was three times as large as the Manor's; which was more than enough room for her, her sister and three of their cousins.

Parker and Peyton prepared potions on the other side of the room while Tam helped Wyatt in the other corner, with books they borrowed from the Council's vault. Chris had gone out to make a phone call at work. He had been missing all afternoon and his boss wasn't too happy. Being assistant chief of a sales company was demanding, and he rarely ever asked for time off unless there was an emergency.

 _Poof!_

Kat suddenly found herself fallen on the floor, with some of the ingredients on their counter scattered about and singed from the sudden explosion. Her eardrums rang so loud that for a second it was she could hear. When her hearing recovered, she turned to look at her cousin, who was also on the floor.

"Are you guys okay?" Tam came and helped her up.

Kat rubbed her temples. "I'm fine, I think." She looked at her cousin, who was being pulled up by her cousin.

"That could only have happened if you added too much sulfur to the potion," said Wyatt, "PJ, what's with you?"

PJ held her hands in the air. "Nothing, I just lost focus for a second."

Parker and Peyton crossed their arms and glared at their big sister. Kat looked at Tamora, who shared her knowing look. PJ was clearly distracted today. She rarely ever got distracted, especially when it came to matters of witchcraft. _One crisis at a time. Just focus on the matter at hand._ She picked up the pot and poured out the content at the sink. They will have to start over if they wanted a workable potion.

"I'm sorry," PJ whispered. There was a sad tone in her voice.

Kat had to remind herself to focus. One problem at a time, and if PJ wanted to talk, she would tell them.

"I'm gonna get some more berries from the cabinet." She headed toward the cabinets on the far side of the kitchen. The potions were effective for sure, but it was only a temporary fix. They will have to come up with a solution. Which means a trip to the other world was inevitable, and she knew it. Could they do it?

"Kat? Did PJ get to you or something? You're all quiet," said Chris in a mocking tone.

Kat couldn't help but feel a little bit annoyed at her cousin. She was tempted to ignore him. "I just got a lot on my mind."

Chris didn't speak for a moment. "You mean, like going to that other world with PJ and my sister?"

She turned back to face her cousins and sister. Their faces wore looks of concern, especially Tam. She could practically feel her twin's anguish in the room. It wasn't a magical power, but more of an empathic connection between twins. They could almost always guess (correctly) how the other was feeling or thinking.

Tam's anguish nearly overwhelmed her. She forced herself to push it back before it could take hold. Facing her cousins again, she realized she hadn't answered Chris's question. "Yes, but for now let's just focus on making the potions, okay?"

Chris nodded. No one said anything. Kat found the jar of juniper berries in the cabinet and went back to the counter to hand it to PJ. She could feel her sister's staring without looking away from the pot.


	10. Chapter 10

"So this _something_ is what will potentially turn the Great War in either side's favor," Lila concluded. "But what does that have to do with Melinda or the others?"

Sandra looked to Melinda, who remained plastered on the wall in the far corner of the room. "As the offspring of the Charmed Ones – the world's most powerful witches – they all possess great potential. Even though the Twice-Blessed prophecy has long been erased," she looked to Melinda's mom and aunts, "your children's makings of angels and witches still make them unique."

Melinda's mom blinked. "Unique? What do you mean by that?"

"Angels are pure benevolent beings. Goodness fuels their power and protects them from evil influences as long as they don't allow negative thoughts to affect their morality. Your daughters are part angel, which makes them not only powerful as witches, but share the same abilities. But since witches are mortals, and your daughters are part mortal, their resistance is not as strong as a full Whitelighter's."

Aunt Phoebe crossed her arms around her chest. "Are you saying our children have stronger resistances to corruptive entities? Like, if one of those demonic vapors were to possess them, they could actually fight back?"

Sandra nodded. "At the very least they will have a chance at resisting the possession."

Melinda opened her mouth, but the intense thoughts rummaging through her brain drowned out the words before she could say them. _So my part angelic heritage makes me special?_ She had talked with friends about the mythologies on angels (of course, she never revealed she was one), but this totally went off the roof of expectation. _So this is why we were chosen. Because we have the power to do this._ She only allowed herself to revel in the idea for a second.

"So what you're saying is we, my cousins and I, have to go over to that world, find this _something_ before evil does and protect it," she concluded. _Simple enough._

"It's not that simple," her mom interrupted. "If it's hidden, it won't be easy to find. We don't even know what it is."

Melinda glared at her.

She had just about had enough of her mom's pessimistic attitude. _What the hell's wrong with you? You just keep making it difficult._ Obviously there wasn't much of a choice, but she was too stubborn to see it.

"Don't look at me like that, young lady." She pointed with a finger with a stern look that demanded respect.

But Melinda wasn't about to give in. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it won't be easy to find it, whatever it is. But if no one goes looking for it, it will never be found–" Her tone grew louder as she spoke, but she couldn't stop. "–and if that happens, evil will eventually get their hands on it. From what I'm seeing, they're gaining the upper hand as we speak. It's obvious that I had those visions for a reason. And now we know why. It's because PJ, Kat and I might be the chance to help win this war."

"So you're just going to decide for us, is that it?" a new voice joined the conversation. And it wasn't a pleasant tone.

Everyone turned to the doorway. Kat and PJ, along with Tamora, Wyatt and Chris, stood right outside. Her brothers and cousins had looks of concern on their faces, like they were frightened by what they'd just heard. Kat, on the other hand, looked angry.

"We haven't even had time to discuss it and you're already making that decision?" Kat said loudly, taking one step inside the door.

Aunt Paige went to her daughter and wrapped her arm around her comfortably. "Honey, we haven't decided on anything yet. This is just a discussion."

Kat shook off her mom's hand. "I know what it is, Mom. But from what I heard, Melinda doesn't seem to consider that she might be the only one who wants to go on the mission. Did you even think about asking PJ and me about it? We haven't even considered anything yet. But clearly, you already want to go, so you just automatically assumed we would want the same thing. Well, perhaps it's time to speak up. Honestly, I haven't even had time to think about it. And right now, the idea is less than appealing in my head. Maybe you want to go on this insane mission, but I don't think I want to." She turned and left without another world. Aunt Paige and Tamora immediately gave chase, while the rest of them followed with their eyes.

Melinda was struck to the core. It was true; she was the only one who spoke about this whole interdimensional travel business. She was the one who received the premonition about this mysterious parallel world, the one who came up with the idea about traversing there on a mission that was potentially dangerous. She hadn't taken the consideration that though her cousins were part of the vision, they may not actually want to do this as much as she did. And now that Kat's harsh words reached her head, she realized they actually didn't want to go at all. It was all her idea.

"I'm sorry." Everyone turned back to her. "She's right. I shouldn't have been so selfish to involve the two of you without consulting you guys first. It was foolish to assume you would want to go on this mission just because I feel the need to." The words were like sharp knives to her throat, "I guess there's no point in continuing this conversation anymore."

With one last glance at her family, she orbed out of the room without another word.

* * *

Kat kept running down the hall despite her sister and mother's protests. Swirls of blue lights cut off her path as they materialized in front of her. She was tempted to orb out of the hall, but figured they could follow with ease. Being half Whitelighters, they all possessed the same teleportation power and the innate ability to sense anyone they wanted to find. Unless they were in the Underworld or magically cloaked.

"Sweetheart, please stop running," her mom said.

Being a naturally obedient person, she heeded her plea to stop running. Tam looked at her with concern. Being twins, they sometimes felt each other's feelings. Right now, Kat was overcome by anguish, and she could guess that Tam felt it from her.

As if to prove her point, Tam said, "Why are you anguished?"

Kat sighed.

Her mom went to stand beside her and placed a soothing hand on her shoulders. "C'mon, sweetie. Talk to us. What's wrong? I know you don't like the idea, but for you to lash out at Melinda like that, it didn't seem to be the kinda thing you'd do."

Inhaling deeply, Kat managed to calm her nerves. Tamora pointed to a bench pressed against a wall. They settled down, and waited patiently for Kat to open up.

 _Since when am I an open book?_ She figured there would be no point to ask that question. Her mom always said that her feelings were so obvious that it looked like she was wearing them on her face.

"Come on, little sister, talk to us," Tam encouraged. "Is there something more to it?"

After a long moment, Kat finally spoke her mind, "I don't know. These past few days had been so pressing. First Henry goes to police academy, then we get attacked by demonic alien parasites. I haven't even had time to study for my midterm yet, and suddenly it seemed like Melinda was deciding everything for us like our opinions didn't matter. I mean, I know she thinks it's necessary, but she pulled me and PJ in without even discussing it with us. I suddenly felt like an underdog."

"Don't say that. No one is forcing you.

Tam rubbed a thumb on her hand. Their mutual love for her washed over her in an instant. Tears fell down her cheeks and it was all she could do to breathe steadily to keep from sobbing.

"Honey, do you not want to go because you think the whole idea is crazy or is it because you're scared of leaving us?" Her mom's question was unexpected.

 _Could that be it? Am I scared?_ She hadn't even considered it. Everything was still happening so fast.

She decided to give the acceptable answer, "Maybe."

Tam snorted. "Or maybe you just enjoy living in my shadow as the twin who picks up my lunches."

Kat mock punched her arm. "I haven't done that since high school, and you were afraid of getting in touch with the mean lunch lady at the time."

Tam laughed, and punched back. "Says the girl who almost turned the whole cafeteria into a circus because she didn't read a spell properly. I think Chuck Allen is still recovering from those furballs that somehow _wound up_ in his throat."

Kat laughed despite her brooding mood. Soon, they were all laughing together. After a moment, she became serious again. "I guess I'm afraid because we're talking about facing the unknown. I've never gone anywhere without you guys before, and now we're talking about going to a place where you don't exist. And we don't know anything about it.

"Melinda had a point about one thing though. This is a hard situation. It may be our only option."

Her mom and sister's embrace washed over her with relief, and their smiles gave much-needed comfort that chased away her anguish. But deep down in her heart, she knew it would a time when she needed to be without it. Those demons were agents of a war. And if they wanted to win, strategy was necessary. Since they had no way of knowing how to fight something powerful enough to breach through a wall, the trip was probably inevitable.

* * *

PJ leaned against a window in the far corner as the meeting continued. An emergency call had come almost right after Melinda and the others took off. While Chris and Wyatt dispatched with some other agents to deal with the call, Parker and Peyton went home with their father while she decided to stay for the rest of the meeting. If things were as bad as everyone said it was, then she would like to be prepared, whether for battle or going along with Melinda's idea. Her mom stole a glance at her.

 _Damn it._ She realized in that moment how annoying it was to have someone with empathy power read your emotions. _Talk about invasion of privacy._ Her mom developed that power five years after becoming a witch, and four years later learned how to reflect someone's emotions back at them. It was both a dangerous and helpful gift once she learned to harness it properly. As half Cupids, her father said that she and her sisters may develop similar powers someday. For once, she was glad she didn't have it. If being read was annoying enough, imagine how she'd feel if she were the one reading someone else.

Lila's question drew away her mom's attention. "So this _Custos_ Ephrem told you that this spell was enough to seal us off from the invasions?"

She nodded and explained further, "He said that if we combine the Power of Three with the angelic powers of the Elders, the spell would be powerful enough to form an unbreakable force field that will cover the entire world. Nothing will be able to get in or out," She sighed and looked down on the table. "But given what Melinda told us, it's only a temporary solution."

"Right now, it's the only solid solution we got," said Aunt Piper with a heavy tone. "It seems Melinda's idea might really be our best shot at getting out of this."

 _Mel would love to hear that from Aunt Piper,_ PJ mused herself, though only momentarily.

The fact that they had such few options was troubling. Other than what the Elder told them, they knew practically nothing: if they decided to venture off to this unfamiliar realm, they would have no idea what waited on the other side.

Heck, they don't even have a clue what they were looking for.

PJ met her mom's eyes again and mentally told herself to breathe evenly to calm herself. The last thing they needed was someone having a panic attack in the middle of a strategy meeting.

She waited a moment before turning back to the others. "So I'm guessing this means the council will have to send out agents to find this awakening power."

Lila considered the suggestion. "It's safe to assume this will be the best strategy. Although–" She cut her focus to Aunt Piper, "since Melinda is the one who got the premonition, I'm not sure it's best to not include her on this quest."

Aunt Piper covered her face and sighed deeply. It would seem she was beginning to lose the debate.

PJ held her breath while keeping herself from going there.

The moment weighed heavily. Aunt Piper finally dropped her hands in defeat, "I'll tell her afterward."

It was official then, PJ thought. Things really were as bad as they said it was.


	11. Chapter 11

Piper materialized in the kitchen of her old Victorian house. Paige gave her a lift after a call from Leo that told her to come home.

She looked around the kitchen. Nothing seemed to be out of place. She went out to the dining room that peeked into the living room, main hall and conservatory. Other than some burnt furniture from yesterday's attack, nothing seemed to be out of place. She even sniffed for newfound smoke in case something was burning. Nothing.

"Leo, are you here?" she said loudly in the main hall, which was grand enough to echo her voice all the way up to the attic.

"In the attic," someone shouted back. It wasn't Leo's voice though; it was Melinda's.

Piper sighed as dread washed over her. She didn't want to tell her daughter about the Council's decision. It wasn't just the dangers of the mission; it was the thought of Melinda being a whole universe away from home. At least while she was living at the dorms, she knew how to reach her. But there was no interdimensional service on their cellphones.

She went upstairs and found Melinda and her husband Leo sitting on the sofa with the _Book of Shadows_ on the coffee table. "Hey, guys, what're you looking…" she trailed off when she noticed Mel wasn't paying attention to the Book.

Piper followed her daughter's glance to a corner across the room, where a mysterious metal door with a ship wheel for a handle. The top embedded the numbers 206.

"What the hell," she mumbled.

It took a lot to shake her. She had seen more than most people in the last twenty years, but there were still certain things that surprised her every now and again. The mysterious door was definitely one of those things.

"Yeah, I know, I was shocked too." Melinda stood and came around the table to her side. "I saw this door in my vision when I cast the clarity spell. It wasn't here last night though, so I'm guessing it showed up around this morning."

She visually examined the door with her arms crossed around her chest.

"So _this_ is the emergency," Piper concluded. "A door that leads nowhere suddenly pops out of nowhere." Sighing, she turned to her husband. "Did you find anything about it in the Book?" She feared she already knew what it might be connected to.

Leo shook his head. "No, but I do remember hearing about this door. It's a mystical portal that connects from one world to another, and only appears when its purpose rises. Once that purpose is fulfilled, it vanishes."

Piper sighed, "Yeah, figures." She looked to her daughter, who faced her with her back. "Mel, do you think it's here for the same reason as your vision?"

Mel continued to stare at the door. "I'm not sure."

Piper could tell she was lying just by watching her behavior. Mel averted eye contact whenever she didn't want someone to know something. She also knew she couldn't shield her children from the dangerous universe forever. The world was filled with dark intentions, both natural and supernatural. Demons and warlocks always lurked in the shadows to destroy good, and humans would make monstrous plans that benefitted no one but the benefactors themselves. Hitler was the perfect example–he targeted Judaism all for his own ridiculous hatred of his own people. In the end, he was struck down by the Americans. Piper and her sisters were all kept in the dark about their powers, because their grandmother took them away when they were too young to remember, and they had lived completely normal lives with no evil forces coming to end them or take their magic for themselves. When their Grams finally died, their powers unlocked and Piper, Prue, and Phoebe became the Charmed Ones. They stood strong against their enemies, but along the way, they had lost much – their ignorant lives, their freedom to choose; and most of all, one of their own. Even after they found Paige, a long-lost half-sister to fill Prue's place in the trio, they never quite got over the loss. Which was why Piper was so thrilled when Prue came back to life, though through the body of a comatose Patience.

Unfortunately, that happiness didn't last long. In one of their greatest battles, Prue helped them defeat the enemy by merging with the source from whence all magic came. But then, she became possessed by one of the most powerful demons known as the Old Ones and turned against her family. They nearly lost Paige trying to stop her.

Piper could still remember the moment Prue begged her to help her. She remembered what it felt like to drive a knife through one of your own flesh and blood, what it sounded like to hear the sharp blade impale her sister's skin. It was also the only way to stop it all. In the end, Prue still succumbed to death while she, Phoebe and Paige remained with the living.

That loss will never quite go away. This lifestyle had brought so much pain she could barely allow herself to leave the house every day.

And yet, there was also much gained in the process. When magic first entered her life, all she had was a dream, her two sisters who could hardly stand one another's presence, and their big house. But because of magic, they started to reconnect as sisters again. She met the love of her life along the way; and the day they got married was the happiest day of her life. That happiness amplified when Wyatt came into their lives. Then, before they knew it, a grown-up version of their then-yet-to-be-born second son, Chris, went back from the future to keep his brother from turning evil, and leading the world down a path where the Charmed Ones were no longer able to protect it.

Melinda was the result of their success, because in that dark future, Chris and Wyatt didn't have a sister. And Phoebe and Paige had no children. But now, they each had three of their own. Their children. Their own family.

Piper had been so attached to this little bubble of happiness that she never wanted anything to burst it apart.

"Honey, if you really do want to go, then I won't stop you," she finally said, pushing back the knot in her throat.

Melinda looked back. "What?"

Piper inhaled deeply.

"I didn't want you to go before, because I didn't want you to go somewhere where we won't be able to keep in touch with you. I was afraid that if I encouraged you to go, then I would lose you. Mel, you need to understand, your aunts and I have lost so much in our lives. I wasn't ready to lose you."

Melinda nodded, but didn't say anything. Leo came to stand beside Piper, and put his comforting arm around her shoulders, like he did all those years to help her feel better. And his touch did help.

Stealing a glance at her supportive husband, she continued, "I know you want to do this. And even if I told you not to, you would probably just sneak off like some rebellious teenager. You're like your aunt that way."

Melinda snorted. Piper couldn't help but smile herself.

"Like Sandra said, this is your path, and I shouldn't stand in your way."

She was quite surprised to be wrapped in her daughter's arms.

"I love you, Mom," she said past her shoulder.

Piper hugged her back. And then Leo joined in.

"I love you too, sweetie."

* * *

Phoebe hung up her phone after talking with Piper. Peyton was helping Coop prepare dinner, while Parker and PJ racked their brains out trying to come up with the perfect divinity spell.

"That was your aunt. Apparently there's a strange that mysteriously appeared in the attic, and Melinda says it was the exact same one from her vision." Parker and PJ froze at that. "She's decided to go."

PJ dropped the papers in her hands.

"What? She's going? Alone?"

"That's really dangerous," said Parker. Her anxiety poured into Phoebe's soul. "We still don't know what we're looking for. She can't find something without knowing what it looks like."

Phoebe took a deep breath to steady her daughter's emotions rushing into her heart. She had learned long ago to corner the emotions she picked up secondhanded through her empathy into a compartment to keep herself from acting upon them. The last thing she needed was to be overrun by secondhand emotions. Especially PJ's. Her emotions were all over the place today.

Taking another deep breath, she said, "I know. But unfortunately she's feeling very strongly about this. And I'm not sure she's wrong. Even the Elders believe she's onto something, and they're hardly wrong about such things."

PJ crossed her arms tightly. She was feeling conflicted. "So she's gonna go and do it, with or without us."

Phoebe and Parker looked at her. The mood in the air tightened Phoebe's throat. She couldn't deny the seriousness of the situation, especially when Piper had given up holding her daughter back. She never gave in to an argument unless she was convinced there was no other alternative to solve a problem.

PJ uncrossed her arms. "Maybe I should go with her. She will need back-up. And it's better someone goes with her rather than let her go in alone."

Phoebe felt her heart skip a beat. Something wasn't right.

"Okay, I had it," she announced, "You've been feeling down all day. What's wrong?"

PJ shook her head. Phoebe recognized the general response when someone said something while their heart meant otherwise. She breathed to calm herself then crossed the room to sit by her side. Parker followed in suit.

"I can tell you're feeling sad. You can tell me anything, honey. You know that, right?"

Parker clutched her hands in her sister's.

"Did something happen with Bart?"

PJ cut a glance at her.

"Who's Bart?" Phoebe asked. _Is my daughter crushing on someone?_

"A guy from school. He's on the track team, and they've been hanging out. And she's been pining for him."

PJ looked embarrassed now. "I don't pine. Anyway, it's nothing. I found out today he's got a girlfriend. I guess I was hoping he would feel something for me. I sort of had this fantasy about Bart confessing his love for me, and then we would go on a date together where we share our first kiss that leads to our happily ever after. But now all I can feel is this uncomfortable knot in my chest. It's like all the worst feelings in the world all rolled into one, and it's dragging me under." Her eyes turned wet. She swiped away a tear before it could roll down her cheek. "You and Dad always told us how wonderful or devastatingly painful love can be when we were growing up. I wasn't sure how it would feel, but when I first met Bart, my heart skipped a beat, and before long I started having dreams about him.

But I know there are more pressing things to deal with. So I decided to focus on that instead of…" she trailed off.

Phoebe smoothly ran her hand up and down her back to comfort her. Parker wrapped an arm around her and leaned on her shoulder. Her sadness began to ebb away slightly. After a few more moments, it finally subsided. A glimmer was still there, but not as strongly as before.

"Thanks. I feel better now."

Phoebe smiled at her firstborn. It was hard to believe the little girl who she had long ago foreseen would come into existence had grown up into this young woman in front of her eyes. Though the first heartache was fresh and painful, she knew she would eventually get over it, and face new ones with more resolve. Such was the nature of mankind.

They adapted, and learned to triumph over hardships.

"So what're you gonna do now?" she asked.

Her daughters looked at her with exasperated looks.

"About going with Mel?" PJ gave it a thought. Her emotions stirred again.

"Prudence, you don't have to decide right now," Phoebe assured, "I don't want you to decide based on other people. If truth be told, it won't be an easy journey, and we won't know what lies ahead. If you do want to go, then it should be your decision and yours alone. Whatever you decide, I'm with you one hundred percent."

Parker squeezed her hands tighter on her sister's. "Me, too."

PJ laughed with tears.

And then Peyton and Coop emerged with dinner in their hands.

 _Let's eat first and then decide._


	12. Chapter 12

Wyatt, Chris and a group of witches faced off the demons again. This time in a rural village in Argentina. Wyatt had put a cloaking spell and shielded it to keep the inhabitants from noticing the fight. They had come prepared with potions, but the enemies were still quite tough. They needed to wait for the right moment to strike if they wanted to succeed.

"Man, there's no end to this," Chris complained. His back was to his brother, who had to focus on protecting the civilians.

One of the witches emitted energy waves from his hands. The demons held up their hands and telekinetically held the attack off. Chris realized now was the time.

"Now!" he hollered.

Two witches tossed potion vials at them. Two demons were hit and instantly the vapors left their bodies, their hosts dropped unconscious. The rest of the team prepared to throw their potions. The remaining demons retracted and prepared to strike again.

A myriad of flying arrows suddenly fell out of the sky and hit all the demons in the chests. They looked down at the arrows that pierced their flesh in shock, and then fire engulfed them, and incinerated them along with their possessors. Chris turned to see where the arrows came from. In the far distance of the little valley, a group of four horse-riding females in ancient warrior attire held their bows ready. He recognized one of them as Mist, one of the Valkyries–demi-goddesses who trained dead warriors for the final showdown between good and evil. He was surprised to see them outside of their domain of Valhalla: they usually only left their island to collect souls of warriors befitting of their cause. They met once when he went up against a demon and she arrived post-fight to claim a brave police officer's soul. He regarded her as an independent beauty. When she turned to him, she said, "It was nice to see you again, Chris, no matter the circumstances."

He consoled the Elders that day and found out that his alternate counterpart from a dark timeline had met with the Valkyrie when he went back in time to change it.

The warriors rode their mounts in their direction and stopped only a few feet away. The witches watched them with exasperated expressions.

"Thanks for the help," Wyatt said politely.

Mist inclined politely.

"The Queen sensed the disturbance in the air, so we came to investigate," she said.

"You know, you could have just sent warning arrows," Chris said harshly. "We were about to use dispossession potions to set their hosts free."

Mist met his eyes with an unreadable expression. A dark frizzle haired Valkyrie regarded him with a disdained look.

"From where I'm standing, you were in a bind between slaying the demons and shielding those unsuspecting villagers," she said in a high-and-mighty tone, "You should be thanking us for taking care of the problem for you."

Chris was about to argue when Wyatt placed a hand on his shoulder to silence him.

"Regardless of the outcome, we understand you were only trying to help," he said politely.

Chris assumed he probably wanted to maintain the peace.

Mist nodded indifferently.

"Perhaps it'd be best we exchange information to further understand the situation."

Wyatt nodded.

"I agree."

* * *

Melinda handed in the paperwork on the third day after announcing her leave. Her professor was taken aback by her abrupt decision, but she needed to make sure everything was properly arranged before she could leave for her journey. The door hadn't disappeared, but there was no guarantee it was going to stay that way.

 _Even the universe has its own limits of patience,_ she thought.

This was not permanent, she told herself. She was coming back. For now, the mission was more important. Even if she had to do it on her own, she would have to because she knew if no one did, the future will certainly become the version she saw. All she had to do was find this hidden power and keep it safe, and once it was over she'll come home. Gloom slowly washed over her as the idea of going alone made her stomach churn. She wished Kat and PJ were by her side. But Kat had said her piece, and she should respect that. If they didn't want to go, then surely she shouldn't make them.

 _Not even with a spell._

Her professor snapped her back to the present.

"It's a real shame, Miss Halliwell," he said, "That you feel the need to leave in the middle of the semester."

Melinda opted to say as little as possible. "I plan on coming back next semester. For now, there is something I need to do."

"Care to elaborate on that?"

"No, not really."

He nodded, looked back to the paper and signed it. He handed it back to her.

"I'll see you then. Although I must warn you, if you intend to come back you will need to catch up on your studies. I hope you plan on attending additional classes before you reapply."

She inclined. _If I come back, I'll do just that._

Their conversation was interrupted by an outburst cry from the hall. Then an explosion followed. Past the door, there were sounds of people screaming and running in fear.

* * *

Both parties told each other everything. The Valkyrie Queen, Freyja, had felt a disturbance and suspected that the time of the Ultimate Battle between good and evil was nearly upon them. Wanting to be certain, she had sent scouts to investigate.

Wyatt and Chris told them about the Great War, the demonic alien parasites and the Elders' deductions, as well as their sister's plan to stop it.

"So the Queen was right," Mist deduced. "The final battle is upon us."

Chris furrowed his brows. "But the fight isn't taking place here," he said.

She nodded in agreement.

"That is true. However, she suspected it would take place elsewhere. There is a reason we Valkyries have pendants that create doorways. It was both to travel safely around places, as well as provide direct travel to the battleground when the battle commenced. I just didn't know the battle had already started by the time it came to us." She grinned at the Halliwell brothers. "Thank you for your information. We must report now to the Queen. I suspect we will see each other again before the storm comes."

Wyatt nodded politely. A sudden call rang in his ears. He looked up at the sky sharply. He glanced at Chris, who shared the same look, and realized he had heard it too.

* * *

Kat listened intently to the professor. The seminar was about a person's reaction to random ideas caused by neurotic distress which made it easier to trick their psyche to fall for persuasion.

Kat was really fascinated. Psychology was the subject she decided to pick because of her curiosity of the human mind. Her mom was a psychology major, and that was how she came to understand matters of the heart and how to guard it, cure it, even find companionship for it. She wanted to be just like her, and that was what she was going to do.

A dentist drill sound pierced into her mind, breaking her focus. She yelped and pressed her hand to her ear, dropping her pen in the process. The drilling eased. When she was able to focus again, several sets of eyes were on her. They couldn't hear what she was hearing. They weren't angels after all. But being part Whitelighter, she had the innate ability to hear cries for help even from those who may not be aware of what they were doing. And this one was screaming loudly to get her attention.

"I'm sorry, professor," she said, collecting her notepad. "There's been an emergency. I'm so sorry."

She picked up her pen from the floor and headed toward the exit. She will have to find the bathroom and make sure it was empty before she could teleport away.

It seemed like magic was reminding her that she could not outrun it. Especially if someone out there needed protecting. If you have the power to fight what you know is happening, you shouldn't ignore it. That was her mom's lesson. Reaching into the bathroom, she took the first available bathroom stall, stood on top of the toilet seat just in case anyone noticing a pair of feet turning into a million particles, and orbed away.

* * *

Melinda winced as she tried to move her body after one of the demons telekinetically flung her to a wall. Her mind was disoriented and her vision blurry. Screams echoed everywhere, and loud noises pounded into her eardrums and her brain.

She looked up and saw a group of demons in the center of the main hall. The possessed had invaded the college halls and were attacking people at random. The quaint interior of McLaughlin Hall was turned upside down by destructive explosions that blew bricks off the walls, pillars blasted in half and people running in fear.

One of the demons approached with murderous eyes directed at her. Knowing the demon was coming for her, she tried to push herself on her feet. Her arms and legs wobbled at the lack of strength. She tried to orb out of their sight, but disorientation made it impossible to call on her power.

The demon facing her raised his hands above his head. Energy began to radiate from his palms to form a gigantic sphere. The energy ball emitted heat close to an oven's temperature. One hit and she will be toast.

Melinda forced herself to stand back up, and failed again.

 _I'm gonna die here._ The thought was clear and completely despairing.

The demon readied to launch his energy ball. Then two sets of white lights appeared from above and formed into five individuals. It took half a second to recognize her brothers among them group. One of the people she didn't recognize tossed a vial of potion that exploded on the demon's chest and forced the possessor vapor out of his body. The energy ball in his hands dissolved and then he dropped to the ground.

The other demons launched energy balls in their direction. The energy balls suddenly stopped in their flying tracks, seized in midair.

The fog in Melinda's mind slowly cleared. She found strength in her limbs again and pushed herself back up. Her whole body still ached like the devil, but at least she was no longer on the ground.

"Are you guys okay?" said a distant voice.

Melinda followed it to the far corner of the hall and found Kat racing toward them.

Chris motioned to the other witches, who tossed their vials and forced the vapors out of their host bodies. Wyatt then raised his hands and vanquished them with his own waves of energy.

One crisis undone. Another one to go, Mel thought.

Demons and magic had been spotted on campus. They would have to do something about that. As if on cue with her distress, the Cleaners – two neutral individuals tasked by both good and evil to ensure the secrecy of magic materialized at the McLaughlin Hall entrance.

"Quite a disturbance," said one of the Cleaners, "You got careless with your magic, and now we have to clean up your mess."

Chris stepped forward to argue, but Wyatt held him back. "We are not responsible for this. We only came in after the demons attacked in public."

That part disturbed Melinda. Demons and magical beings all held onto one rule, to keep their existence secret from the human world so they may do their workings in peace and without persecution. And yet, the possessed attacked in public in a school filled with people. If this goes on, soon they will have more on their plate than they can chew.


	13. Chapter 13

Piper went back to the council headquarters with the rest of her family to console the Elders after Chris told them what happened on campus and at the remote village. Though the Cleaners had erased all the mortals' memories, the situation was turning for the worse, and they need to do something: something other than sending out agents to fight the invasion.

Lila placed her arms on the table and rested her chin on her fingers as she listened to the conversation. Melinda seated next to Phoebe, PJ and the twins. Sandra stood near the large windows with Leo beside her. Though he had long since given up the status of an Elder, he still held them at a respectable position in his heart.

"It would seem," Lila said, "the invasion doesn't just include attacking magical creatures, but everyone in general."

"And that means everyone, mortals included, is in danger," Piper agreed and sighed. Her normal life had been blown to a million pieces and incinerated beyond salvation in a matter of days. She looked at her daughter for a moment before turning back to Sandra. "So what should we do?"

Lila and Sandra shared looks.

"I know you have already agreed to let Melinda go on her mission," Sandra said, "and I agree it might be our best chance to survive this. It would, however, also be advisable that we consider the _custos'_ suggestion to strengthen the wards."

Piper felt her heart sink to her stomach. She didn't want to go there.

Paige took a defying step. "That won't be a permanent solution. Melinda said they will eventually conquer us in the next few years."

Lila inclined her agreement. "Yes, I believe we can all agree on this. However, with the way things are progressing at present, the conquering may not be that far off. Strengthening the wards is not a real solution, but if we do that, it may delay the inevitable. And we will wait while Melinda searches for this unknown power."

Piper crossed her arms across her chest. Leo joined her side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She knew he was thinking the same thing: if they amplified the wards' power, they will be safe for a while. The invasions would stop. But they will also become completely cut off from their daughter. She wanted to tell Mel to lock herself up in her room and hide like her life depended on it the night before, and it took a struggling time to accept and support her decision to leave home.

Because no matter what, no matter how much she dreaded it and wished her children didn't have to go through what they went through in their youths, the Halliwells always did one thing: they made the painful, right decisions. She did it when she plunged that soul-destroying dagger into her sister's stomach. Prue allowed herself to be sacrificed to protect the world. Paige stuck with her family when she and Henry were having opposite ideas of how their lives should be like. And Phoebe once sacrificed her love for Cole to protect them.

And yet, the idea of sending her baby into an unknown land with no backup or emergency kit didn't sit right for her. So how is she supposed to do this?

She looked at her daughter. Her chest suddenly felt a thousand tons heavier.

* * *

Melinda didn't look in her mother's direction. She didn't like what she was hearing at all, and the last thing she wanted was to let her mom see doubt in her eyes.

She was prepared to go about this mission without PJ or Kat by her side. But being completely cut off from home was a different matter. Could she do it? She didn't know how long it will take to find this mysterious entity. She didn't even have a single clue on how to find it. Hell, she didn't know nearly enough about this new world she was about to venture off to. The visions had shown her what the future will become if she didn't do something about it.

She didn't want to see her family fall into evil's grasp and become the soulless puppets who lived on the havoc they wreaked. When she saw them, she saw nothing familiar in their eyes; they had the same faces and the same powers born from their long lineage as witches and Whitelighters. But other than those, they were nothing more than hosts of the evil that had taken them over. They had no emotion in their eyes. No soul. No self. Nothing that made them who they were existed any longer.

Preventing that from happening was Melinda's only motivation to do this. Renewing her resolve, she looked up. "Then it cannot be helped."

"Melinda!" Her mom said her name defiantly.

She knew argument was imminent.

"No," she cut her off. "I can see where this is going. And I know this is necessary. But I'll be damned if I let you go off alone. I will not be convinced that making the wards impassable is a good solution until I at least know you have someone to back you up. Either that or we find some other way to fight this."

"She won't be going alone," PJ interjected.

Everyone turned to her. She looked to her mother, who inclined with her head and a gentle grin. PJ took a deep breath before looking up. Then she turned her head to Melinda. "I'll be going with her."

Gratefulness filled Melinda's heart. She had been determined to go alone, but having someone by her side helped ease her anxiety. The second instinct that came afterward was doubt: why was she willing to do it when she clearly didn't want to go? Was it because of what she said?

Melinda reached around her aunt to take PJ's hand in hers. "PJ, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. I won't mind."

She inclined. "I know. But this is bigger than any one person can handle. And let's face it; you said you saw me there with you. I don't know what I can do because my powers are more Cupid than Wiccan, which basically makes them less useful in fight situations, but if there's anything I can do to help, I want to." Joy filled Melinda's heart, and worked its way up to her lips, which curled back into a smile. PJ smiled back. She looked at her mother for a moment then faced the others again. "But I also agree with Lila's suggestion. Once we've passed through the barrier, you should seal yourselves off for as long as possible. I'm sure there's a way for us to get back. We all see impossible things happen every day. This won't be any different."

Aunt Phoebe closed in to hug her daughter. Melinda drew back her hand to give them space.

* * *

Kat and Tamora quietly slipped out of the room without anyone's notice. They did that occasionally as kids when they had mischief up their sleeves. Often to prank their baby brother, no magic included, or their parents. Sometimes when one of them was upset, they would also sneak off to be by themselves.

Kat had always been glad that she was blessed with a twin. They had quarrels growing up, but all siblings did, and they always got over them somehow. If anything, the fighting brought them closer to each other. When they were eight years old, a boy bullied Kat for defending a boy who liked reading than climbing with the rest of the kids. Tamora came right to her defense, and together they fought the bully's advance. They all got sent to the principal's office for fighting, but that day felt like a win for both of them. They were tempted to spell the bully to give him a taste of him own medicine, but since their powers were bound at the time, they had to ask one of their cousins to do it for them. Their plan was to cover the bully's face with zits. It was an easy, totally harmless spell. His face grew zits in a matter of hours, and before long they turned into blisters and spread to his entire body. Everyone in class screamed at the sight, and when free period came, he almost lost his skin.

They were able to reverse the spell, but the boy suffered more than he deserved.

"You can't hurt someone just because they had hurt you," their mom told them. "Magic is not supposed to be used this way. It's meant to help other people, but punishing out of anger can turn it very bad. If you're not careful, someone could get hurt. Like the people you see get hurt on the news. You could hurt many people, and even yourselves. Remember it well, girls."

Kat and Tam memorized their lesson and promised to never misuse their magic again.

Kat came out of the memory when she heard Tam's voice. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were okay."

Her first instinct was to say she was fine, but then remembered Tam could tell when she was lying. Just like she could.

They settled down on a bench.

"Do you want to go with PJ and Mel?" her sister asked.

She didn't answer at first.

"I'm not sure. The idea has been tearing me up. When Melinda told us she saw me and PJ there with her, I was so shocked I didn't know how to respond to that. Then she went and said all that stuff about going there.

"The way she talked, she obviously didn't consider how we felt. She already thought we _wanted_ to be there. I haven't even had the chance to think about it yet, and she just made the decision for us. And now, the more I think about it the more confusing it gets."

Slamming her face into her palms, she exhaled in frustration. Her sister ran a comforting hand down her back.

For a minute there, neither said a thing. Tam's touch soothed her nerves.

"You're not actually mad at Melinda, you're conflicted," a voice down the hall made them look. They recognized it before they saw the face. Their mother slowly approached in her calming way and sat beside Kat. "I think you're feeling unnerved by the whole situation because you're leaping into the unknown," she went on, "And now that PJ has agreed to go along, you're feeling compelled to make the same decision, but you're not sure if you would be making the right call."

Kat snorted. "S' that your way of calling me a chicken?"

"That's my way of saying you're thinking about this carefully," she glanced over at Tamora, "unlike your sister who likes to charge in without looking both ways firsthand."

Tam gave her a defying grin and said jokingly, "Sometimes too much thinking isn't healthy." She peered at her sister.

Kat rolled her eyes and scoffed, feeling slightly frustrated. "That's your way of saying I'm overthinking."

She replied with a shrug.

"Maybe."

Despite the negative emotions, Kat felt a slight pang of joy that made her laugh. Her mother and sister joined in as just their father appeared from down the hallway. He had a grin plastered on his face. "What's so funny, girls?"

"I'm being ganged up by my own sister and mom, that's what's so funny," Kat joked.

Their joy was short termed, because Wyatt came right then to alert them of another attack in the Midwest.


	14. Chapter 14

PJ frustratingly ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to come up with the perfect excuse for her resignation to the dean. She had been trying to tap the words for the last couple hours with no success.

She had no reason to resign. She loved sports, she loved college, and the scholarship came with some really nice perks. Like details on needed supplies, which were required for the classes she had to attend (some students had to dig their fingers through the data for that sort of thing); and the coach loved her. And there was…

 _No, there isn't,_ she reminded herself, _not anymore._

Bart had a girlfriend: that much was clear. And she was over him. One hundred percent. _And this is more important._

As if the afternoon crisis wasn't a good enough reminder. Right after they dealt with the invasions in the Midwest, they received word of _five_ more in five different countries. Whitelighters and witches, and many other creatures, had to come together to deal with the demons. To their surprise, even a few low level demons that disliked the idea of enslavement despite the opportunity of gaining power, helped out. After that, they parted ways and agreed to keep word from spreading to wide in the Underworld. What that meant, PJ didn't want to know. After the matter was dealt with, PJ and the others were sent away while their parents met with the Elders and the Council again.

They wanted to come with, but Aunt Paige insisted they went back to alert the local witches and provide extra protection wards around their homes. Adding the fact that some of them still had to go to school tomorrow (namely Parker, Peyton, Tamora, and Kat), they needed to rest. PJ suspected she used it as an excuse to keep them safe without actually telling them.

Drawing in a deep breath, PJ drew herself out of her reverie and continued typing. _Come on, focus,_ she told herself.

 _"_ _Due to recent development with family problems, I regret to say that I can no longer focus on my studies. Therefore I from today forward shall resign my scholarship–"_

She startled at the unexpected sound before recognizing it as a knock on the door.

Leaving her desk, she cautiously started in that direction.

"Who is it?"

"It's us," the visitor answered. "Open up."

 _What is_ she _doing here?_ She opened to Parker, her little sister, and looked into four sets of eyes of her entire family. Her father had that same warming smile that always seemed to have a magical calming effect, though it would seem his love for her mother was the reason. Their love for each other had never weakened over the years. If anything, it had emphasized.

Parker started forward and wasted no time to pull her into a tight embrace. Their youngest sister, Peyton, joined in.

PJ allowed herself to be wrapped in their warming gesture. Her heart suddenly pounded to her spinal cord. Her brain swept away all senses of logic. And her eyes suddenly wetted with tears. It was embarrassing, considering they were in the dormitory hall filled with students. But she didn't care. She needed this. She needed her family.

Before long, her resolve fell apart and she started sobbing. And her sisters were sobbing with her. Her parents wrapped their arms around their tight little bubble, and they became a reality show of crying family for anyone who saw them.

* * *

Kat lay with her back on the little bed in her dorm room. The softness from the mattress and sheets brought comfort to her body. Enough to ease her stress and help her sleep off her stress.

Problem was her mind wasn't cooperating. Not even after she had a big dinner, which usually made her sleepy afterwards. She was wide awake in bed at ten o'clock in the evening, with all the drama playing in her head like a flash of clear pictures. It seemed like these past few days had been a series of drama. Starting with Melinda's vision and escalated with alien demons appearing out of nowhere with the intention to dominate the planet. And now, it was coming close to an ending. By tomorrow, two of her cousins will leave, and her mother and aunts will cast a spell to stop the invasions altogether.

 _But it won't be a permanent solution._ Her mother's words repeated in her head.

She wanted her life in college to be a memorable experience. And it had been. She loved the lessons, the knowledge it gave, the scheduled hours, even the professors who were strict at times. Except now with the threat hanging above their heads like a giant sword, she may not make it through sophomore year.

PJ and Melinda enjoyed their college experience too. PJ thrived on sports, especially volleyball and dancing. And she loved studying histories of athletic people. Her volleyball team came with a full scholarship. Melinda, growing with more boys than girls at home, tried her hands at screws and pipes, and was always good at it. It wasn't until sophomore year in high school when she went on a trip to an artwork convention. She caught sight of an enormous display built by clay, pipes and screws. It was then she realized that she wanted to study engineering.

And now they were both giving up their passions for this.

"So what is my choice?" she asked herself out loud.

* * *

Melinda put a bag of tampons inside her backpack. She had collected her belongings from the dorm an hour ago and was now in her childhood bedroom, picking it apart for her departure tomorrow.

The Council had agreed to seal themselves off once she and PJ had crossed over. It took some convincing her mother, and after counselling with Aunt Paige and Aunt Phoebe, they agreed on one condition: they will lower the shields six months from tomorrow, and whether they have succeeded in finding the mysterious power by then, she and PJ must return.

Mel didn't like the idea, but agreed to it nonetheless. It was her mom's wishes, and she had shown plenty of curtesy just by agreeing to let her go. They had no idea what they were looking for after all. They didn't know where it might be hidden or what it looked like. They didn't even know if it was an object or a human being. Just like the world they were about to venture off to. They didn't know the first thing about it until Sandra and the other Elders provided them the info: according to them, it wasn't that much different from their own world. There were mortals and witches living in society that had technology and historical figures that reflected their own. So they didn't have to worry about the workings of time and space.

And PJ's agreeing to come along made things easier. Still, they were stepping into unknown territory, and she had to admit it was unnerving.

Snapping out of her thought, Melinda moved on to grabbing her wallet from the nightstand when another thought occurred.

 _What type of money do they use there? Should I even take my ID?_

No reason to think it wouldn't be helpful in some way. Maybe she couldn't use her money or credit card there, but bringing her identification documents along certainly wouldn't hurt anyone. She fished out her ID card from her wallet.

She looked at the time on her phone. It was nearly midnight. She made sure everything was packed before putting her backpack in the corner and got ready for bed.


	15. Chapter 15

In the distant realm called the Iron Dimension where people and technology reflected those of the Charmed Ones' home world, a mysterious door identical to the one that appeared in the Halliwell Manor had materialized in the Xia Family Dormitory. The landlady Xiong Ge (true name Xialan Xingde Xiong) had no idea where the door came from or what it was really for. Xia Liu, her father, examined it yesterday and told her that the number attached to it was part of a demonic language that symbolized every bad omen.

She had tried to open it, but brute force wasn't enough to twist the handle. She even tried to harness power into her hands to strengthen herself. She wasn't half as powerful as before, but channeling energy into her arms was easy to accomplish. Except it wasn't enough to open the door.

 _But it has to mean something, doesn't it?_ she thought. _So why isn't it opening?_

Today was her husband's birthday, and she and the others had planned a party. The problem was the birthday boy wouldn't be here, and neither would her two children. They had been missing for so long that her yearning to see them again became a distant wish. And today of all days, this door appeared. If it wasn't for her family's return, then what is it for? she wondered.

She wanted to see her husband and sons again so badly she could die from yearning. Xia Tian cancelled his own wedding to join the army to fight the dark lord and keep the planet safe. Her eldest son, Xia Yu, decided to join his brother to protect him. Xia Tian's true love, Han, was so hurt that she fell into depression. Xiong Ge asked her husband to follow her wherever she went in order to keep her out of trouble. He was tagging her when he suddenly disappeared. It pained her to no end, but she had fought through the hurt to keep the family together.

And now, after so long, this happened. And yet, no one could enter. And no one had come through it, either.

 _When will I ever get to see them again?_

Tears were on the edge of her eyes now. Thinking about them made it that much harder to hold them back. She could still remember how her husband gently wrapped a sheet around her shoulders to keep her warm at night. How Xia Yu would ask her and everyone how much they spent in a day just to keep the family budget balanced. How Xia Tian argued with her about wanting to become a musician just like his dad.

She startled at the sudden touch on her shoulder. All the thoughts that occupied her mind before replaced with instant fear before she recognized the stranger.

"Why did you sneak up on me like that?" she said while rubbing her chest to calm her racing heart. "You didn't even say something. That scared the crap outta me."

"I did call your name," said Julia, one of the only three mortal tenants in her dorm.

She looked at the mysterious door with a questioning look.

"When did this door appear?"

Xia Xiong frantically looked from Julia to the door. She had no idea what it was for, but it was obviously supernatural and the last thing she wanted was another exposure. "Well… um," she stammered. "Well, th-this door." _Think. Think. Think._ "This space was so spacious, so I thought I could expand it so we could add another room to rent to someone." She wrapped her hand around Lia's arm and gently pulled her away. "Come on, let's go downstairs for a bit." She continued to explain her made-up story before Han, her son's longtime girlfriend, came from downstairs with an annoyed look.

"Xiong Ge," she called, "that psychotic Lily's here again."

Xiong Ge gasped in horror. "You mean that girl who loves Chang-Qiong so much that she went crazy?"

Julia gasped.

 _This day just turned for the worst imaginable,_ Xiong Ge thought.

* * *

"That's a little waaay too sudden," said Coach Volker.

She nodded. "It is, and I'm sorry to tell you on such short notice. But something's come up and I'm afraid there's no other choice. I plan on coming back next semester or so though."

Her coach exhaled exasperated. "May I ask what reason led to your resignation?"

 _Shoot._ PJ fumbled for words. She hadn't thought that thoroughly with her excuse.

"I have a relative who just passed away and he didn't leave a will or have any children, so some of my cousins and I are going there to deal some real estate agents who want to buy his property. And it's in another country, so I cannot do it remotely. We're starting with finding a good lawyer first."

The coach crossed her arms across her chest. PJ sensed that she wasn't fully convinced of her story. "And you're leaving school to preserve your late relative's property?"

"It's a family ground, and I was my great-uncle's favorite niece. Anyway, I really am sorry, but I must be going. I'm catching the plane tonight."

She didn't dare move. Her coach could be very scary when she wanted to be. Of course, if she refused to let her go, she would have to resort to casting a spell to promote compromise. Volker exhaled.

"Very well. I hope everything goes well, and you better be back next semester. Scholarships don't get offered to just anyone, and I'm sure you know it's not easy to get it back once you lose it."

She nodded. "Thank you so much, coach." She wasn't the star player, but her passion and skill had landed her a spot on the team. And now she was letting it go. _But not forever._

Having said everything that needed to be said, PJ left the coach's office. She left the girls' locker room and was headed for the exit when Bart and some of his friends appeared from down the hall. PJ stopped in her tracks.

He looked past some of his friends blocking his view as he noticed her.

He inclined as greeting. "How's it goin', girl?"

PJ felt her heart sink to her stomach. She plastered a forced smile on her lips and planned to say hey and then hightail it out of there. "I'm just leaving," she said instead.

Bart stopped, told his friends to go ahead and then turned back to face her. "I thought the girls' team was occupying the gym."

"It is." With a deep calming breath, she forced herself to tell the truth. "I'm leaving school."

Bart's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

 _Geez, why does he have to be so hot when he does that?_ She wanted to run her fingertips on those small brows and kiss them with her lips. In this close distance, she could see his dimples and spots with perfect clarity, and that made it all the more painful to be in his presence. Because her handsome guy was spoken for. And in that moment, she was glad to not have anything holding her back. At least she tried to tell herself that.

"Well… that's a little… sudden." He seemed speechless.

"Yeah, anyway, I have to go now." She started toward the exit, then stopped and looked back at Bart one last time. "Goodbye, Bart."

With that, she strode out of there without another word. Every taken step felt like a ton heavier, but she pressed to get away from the boy who had captured her heart. _Goodbye._

* * *

Melinda yawned. Sleep had evaded her for most of the night as she tossed and turned in bed, trying to rest. But sleep never came. She finally had to resort to consuming caffeine in the morning to maintain her energy.

Kheel, Sandra, Lila, and her parents had gathered in the manor's attic, where she and PJ will pass through the 206 door. Wyatt and Chris were downstairs placing cloaking crystals to prevent interruptions. All they were waiting now was for the rest of their family and the _custos_ to arrive. PJ had to deliver her resignation letter to the dean before she could come. Aunt Paige and Aunt Phoebe had to be here to cast the spell; they needed the Power of Three for the shields to be fully effective. The two Elders had just come from a meeting with the Valkyrie queen before her demigod army dispatched to the war zone in the ether through their own portals. According to Kheel, Freyja's soldiers were excited to finally put their training to good use at long last.

Mel couldn't understand their methods, but she could relate to their eagerness to do something about the situation. Everyone was on edge by this whole thing.

 _Which is why I'm doing this._

She went through her overstuffed backpack for the twelfth time since morning came to pass the time and mentally made note of everything. Among them a sleeping bag from an early Christmas gift years before, a flashlight, a small collection of clothes, and a notebook with spells her mother copied from the _Book of Shadows_ in case of emergency.

Wyatt came in with his phone in hand.

"Guys, Peyton just texted," he told them. "They'll be at the door in about twenty seconds. And Aunt Paige said she had to run an errand, but will be here in a few minutes."

Mel nodded and began to stuff her stuff back inside the backpack. Her mom talked with Lila and the Elders about the conditions. Lila had dispatched agents across the world to keep the attacks under control, with fortune tellers to help predict the enemy's moves.

"Okay, we're here," said Aunt Phoebe as she entered. Uncle Coop and their daughters were right behind her. PJ had a heavy backpack on her back with a sleeping bag secured on the top. Her hands were holding a folded tent. "Where's Paige?"

"Right here," said a familiar voice as bluish-white orbs materialized on the other side of the room. The forming silhouettes depicted more than one person's orbing. When the orbs took solid form, Aunt Paige wasn't the only one present. There were also Uncle Henry, Tam, and Kat. Looking down, Mel saw a backpack and a sleeping bag at her little cousin's side.

She looked up at her cousin and asked "what is this" while pointing at the backpack.

Kat raised her hands. "What does it look like? I'm coming with you guys."

"Really?!" Mel and PJ said in the exact second.

Their cousin nodded.

"I gave it alot of thought. I was upset with you before, Mel, 'cause you were so eager to jump into this dangerous venture without a second thought. But after I had time to think, I realized you weren't doing it for yourself." She looked at PJ. "And neither are you. And while I didn't have a vision like you did, and my battle technique isn't quite as sharp as yours, I know that you guys are doing what is right. And that is what I am choosing to do. I choose to believe we're doing the right thing. Besides, neither of you have the power to freeze. You might need it to get out of a sticky situation. And let's face it, with my expertise on psychology, I can probably read into a problem better than your budding premonition power."

Someone from behind snorted. Mel looked over her shoulder at her smiling cousin. And before she knew it, she was smiling too. Maybe it was the vision depicting herself with PJ and Kat. She couldn't be sure, but it felt good to have Kat by their side. It felt _right_.

Two _custos_ arrived some minutes later with a scroll for the ward strengthening spell.

"Oh, before I forget, Sandra said that since the witches in that other world are hiding in plain sight," Lila interjected, "we decided to take precaution." She fished out three intricately designed brown leather wristbands from her jacket. "These bands are blessed with power suppressing qualities. It will mask your magical presence so that no one can detect your magic. But it will also neutralize your powers while you're wearing them."

PJ made an annoyed face. "Do we really need those? I'm, we're not gonna stay there forever."

Kat nodded. Mel was entitled to agree. She didn't want her magic neutralized, and Kat was probably more than unwilling to have her magic denied again after her mother unbound them years ago. But what Lila said had a tiny bit of logic. The witches there had been forced to give up on their lifestyles to escape prosecution and extermination. They could easily orb out of trouble, but since they were stepping into a world they knew nothing about, with no way of getting back before the deadline and facing unseen danger, providing an extra safety net may not be a bad idea.

Melinda was the first to step forward and take a bracelet. She looked back at her surprised cousins.

"You're seriously gonna take it?"

Mel shrugged. "It doesn't seem like a bad thing to take extra precaution. We'll be going to a realm where witch trials are still in operation. And we can always take them off if worst come to worst."

PJ seemed to consider her reason, and then consented to taking the second bracelet from Lila. Kat gaped at them.

"It's up to you, Kat," Lila said. "If you don't want this, then we won't force you."

Kat closed her eyes with a scrunched face and exhaled. Then she held out her hand. "Gimme that damn bracelet." Frustration was audible in her voice, and Mel knew she hated the idea. Nonetheless, she took the bracelet and brought it over.

"Okay, then, let's get this show on the road," said Melinda's mom, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention.

Mel grabbed her backpack, secured it on her shoulders and clasped it. Wyatt came to her side and hugged her.

"I'll see you in six months, Sis," he whispered in her ear.

"Of course," she said, pulling back, "You can't get rid of me even if you tried."

Wyatt laughed. Chris came right then to steal his little sister away and wrapped her in his tight arms. Mel nuzzled her nose on her second big brother. The two boys liked to tease her growing up, and occasionally they fought both physically and magically, but they never let their love for each other dwindle. And Mel was lucky to have Chris and Wyatt as her brothers.

When they let go, she noticed that Kat and PJ were saying goodbye to their families as well.

"Do I get a hug, Pumpkin?" said her dad with his arms ready to intercept.

Mel rushed toward him. His warmth enveloped her in that same way that always comforted her through sadness. Her eyes felt irritated, and the first breath she took sounded like a sob. "I love you, Dad," she whispered.

"I love you too." He kissed her head. "Be safe over there."

She nodded once before pulling back to face her mother, who smiled with tears in her eyes. She opened her arms.

"Come here, baby girl."

Mel laughed and complied. She hadn't called her that since she was thirteen years old. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you," she whispered with a hiccup voice.

Her cousins were saying goodbye to their respective families too. After saying goodbye to everyone, Melinda stuffed the bracelet in her pocket and approached the mysterious door. Her cousins stood on either side. Then, very slowly, she clasped her hands around the wheel handle and turned until it came to a stop. A sound of gear clicking against each other echoed from inside the door, and then it opened to reveal a path of bright light.

 _After we step through, we'll be in the other world,_ she thought.

PJ grabbed her hand and held it tight in her grasp. Mel then held out her other hand to Kat, who took it without a second thought. Mel's mom held out a piece of paper with the path securing spell written on it, and chanted together with her sisters.

 _In this time and in this hour,_

 _We call upon the ancient power._

 _Secure the path through space and time_

 _To the place in Melinda Halliwell's mind._

Kat, Melinda and PJ cast one last glance at their family. And then PJ stepped through the doorway, gently pulling Mel along. Kat followed in tow.

* * *

Piper watched with Phoebe and Paige as their children disappeared into the bright space. She breathed heavily to fight back the emotions that threatened to break her composure. The door closed itself, the handle turned shut and then it vanished into thin air.

Leo came to her side and put his hand on her back. His touch lessened some of the pain, and she leaned her head on his shoulder for comfort. Coop and Henry did the same for their respective wives. They were almost immediately surrounded by their five children.

"We'll see them again, you have to believe that," he whispered gently as he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders.

Piper closed her eyes and let herself be lost in his embrace, taking in the support it offered.

Lila, the Elders and the _custos_ waited patiently for them to recompose themselves. They had to do the next step together.

When the pain subsided, Piper pulled away and watched Phoebe take the scroll parchment from _Custos_ Ephrem. She unrolled it as Piper and Paige joined her side. Kheel, Sandra, Ava, and Ephrem formed a large circle around them in the center of the attic room, and lifted their hands. Lila, Chris, Wyatt, Parker, Peyton, and Tam took their positions on the outer line of the circle.

All of them chanted the ancient words together. The words on the scroll glowed in response. Its illumination slowly formed a golden light and shot up into the air, straight through the ceiling without breaking it apart. She could feel the Power of Three, the power of the Elders, the _custos_ , and their children's coming together to generate the spell that wrapped an invisible wall around their realm.

When the light dissipated from the scroll, she knew the spell had been completed. And nothing will be able to pass through its protection. Not even their children.

 _But we will see them again._

She had to believe that.


	16. Chapter 16

Melinda, Kat, and PJ held on to each other tightly on the wrists as their bodies were pulled across the ginormous space by an unknown force that propelled them forward. Visuals of different realms and dimensions flashed before them as they passed. There was no ground to tether them, no clouds in the air, just an environment of endless expanse. Interestingly enough, they found that they could still breathe, and their bodies were unaffected by the minus hundred degrees.

Kat tightened her grip on her cousin's hand, afraid of getting separated from them.

"Are we there yet?" PJ asked.

Kat looked up ahead to see if they were close to a destination, but there was nothing for millions of miles. Suddenly, the vast outer space disappeared and their feet touched solid ground. She felt her backpack's weight as gravity took hold again. They looked around the new environment, but like the mysterious place they walked into seconds before they were swept up by the powerful force, this new area was covered in nothing but light. Everything in their surrounding was so bright that her eyes hurt. She shielded them with her hands, but it only lessened the blindness to a small degree.

 _Where is it coming from?_

"Guys, look," Melinda said. "Up ahead."

Kat fought through the light to follow her cousin's gaze. Just a few yards away, there was a shadow in the middle of nowhere. She blinked to adjust her vision, and the blurry silhouette slowly cleared into a door that seemed to lead nowhere. Melinda walked forward, pulling Kat and PJ along by their hands.

They focused on the shadow to keep the light from blinding them. When they finally reached the door, they let go of each other. Mel clenched the wheel handle on it and turned, effectively unlocking it and opened to what looked like a brand new area. With enough shadows to make out details of a living room.

Mel was the first to walk through the doorframe. Kat eagerly followed and then PJ.

"Man, that was bright," she complained as her vision suddenly became blinded with overwhelming color.

Mel waved a hand at them, quietly whispering her "shush".

Kat blinked as her rainbow-blurred eyes slowly adjusted. Once her vision cleared, she took in the grandeur of the room. It was too large to be a bedroom. There was a coffee table in the center surrounded by two armchairs and a small chair. A foosball table lay by the wall closest to them with a wooden drawer placed against it. On the other side of the room lay a second wooden drawer in between two doors with a flatscreen television on top of it. The wall to their right was decorated with a black board written in what looked like Chinese and a dartboard with a floor light on the side right beside the turn to the hallway.

Melinda inspected the room with an incredulous look. "We're here. The spell worked."

"What?"

"In my vision, I saw this place. The portal brought us here."

"And where is 'here'?" PJ wondered. She started toward the hallway. Melinda quickly grabbed her hand.

"Don't go walking around," she said quietly. "We walked right into a room where people obviously live here." Kat approached the window to their left and saw the front yard. "What're we gonna say if they see us?"

PJ shrugged. "That we walked through the front door?"

"Actually we're on the second floor," Kat corrected. "You're right, Mel. We can't get discovered like this with our backpacks, because most people walk through the front door and put down their stuff before going up the st–"

The sound of a doorknob rattle echoed into the hall followed by the distant sound of footsteps. The three cousins immediately backed away toward the door they came from. Melinda grabbed the wheel handle, but it didn't turn when she tried to twist it.

"What's going on?" PJ whispered.

"It won't open," she whispered back.

"How–"

The footsteps were coming closer from down the hall. Kat, realizing they were out of time, grabbed PJ by the arm and Melinda on the shoulder, and desperately demanded herself to orb. The small light she was so familiar immediately covered their entire bodies and dissolved them into millions of small particles that brought them out of sight.

When they rematerialized, they were standing behind a patch of trees and some bushes in a small garden, partly hidden from potential passersby. In the short distance was a two-story tall house with red bricks that covered the lower half while the upper half was colored by yellow walls. A half-circle balcony was built above the front door with four pillars stretching up from the small stairs to make a porch. The brick path in the front yard swayed to the right toward an open gate that led to the outside. To the house's left was an industrial staircase attached to a high wall that bridged access to another street.

"We're outside the house," Melinda said.

PJ looked at her. "How do you know?"

"This is what it looks on the outside. I even saw some of the inhabitants."

"Should we go back inside and see what we can find?"

Melinda shook her head. "We should go about and find out where we are first. Other than the house and some of the info the Elders gave us, we know nothing about this world."

The sound of people talking alerted them. Kat and Melinda immediately dodged behind two trees large enough. PJ lay on the grassy ground to hide her backpack and tent from sight. Four Asians turned down the path toward the house. The first was a young woman with dyed brown hair at cheek length and a black t-shirt; the second one was another girl who had her dyed blond hair tied into a bun on top of her head. The third girl had long dark curls and seemed to wear a sophisticated dark blue shirt over a white skirt. The fourth was a boy with a geeky pair of glasses and a patterned shirt. They were all speaking in Chinese.

"It's that girl," Mel whispered.

"What girl?"

"The one with short hair and black t-shirt." She pointed. "She was in my vision. She was possessed and fighting two people inside the house."

Kat narrowed her vision as much as physically possible on the girl. The distance and her being obscured by her peers made it difficult to make out anything. From what she could tell, she seemed normal.

PJ peered up from her hiding spot. "She seems fine right now. Any idea on when it's gonna happen?"

Mel shook her head. They waited until the four entered the house before coming out of the green hiding spots. "Let's get outta here."


	17. Chapter 17

"Alright, get out of here then, and don't come back once you step through that door," Xiong Ge told her daughter as she and her boyfriend followed her and Johnny across the living room.

"Fine, we're leaving," said her daughter, Xia Mei, defiantly.

Ren Pang-Guang exited her dad's bedroom right next to the front door just as her son's longtime girlfriend Han, and tenants Ye Sheng, Zhu Lia, and Ji Ru-Ling came in. She paid them no heed as she continuously quarreled with Xia Mei and her boyfriend.

"You're such an insolent woman," she insulted.

"Old fart," she retorted.

Pang-Guang suddenly fell to his knees with a serious look at Xiong Ge. Everyone froze in surprise.

"What're you doing?" Xiong Ge asked.

Pang-Guang hitched his breath. "Sorry. I'm sorry, everyone. It was my fault."

Everyone leaned toward the young man worriedly.

"What's wrong?"

"Come on, stand up," Ye Sheng encouraged.

But he didn't. "I'm sorry. I was the one who stole the diamond ring."

Xiong Ge gasped in shock. She wasn't just surprised by the revelation, but also by the realization that she had been wrong about Xia Mei's boyfriend. She had despised him so much that she was convinced that Johnny was the one who stole her boyfriend's engagement ring when he ate the sandwich it was stuffed in. The next emotion that set in was embarrassment. She had openly embarrassed herself by arguing with Xia Mei to the point where she was willing to move out to be with her boyfriend.

"You see?" Johnny cheered.

Xia Mei cheered with him.

"Oh, no," Ye Sheng suddenly shrieked, "where are Chang-Qiong and Lily?"

Xiong Ge's eyes widened as panic set in. She had cast a spell to command Ye Sheng to keep Chang-Qiong far away from Lily. The boy had been adamant to tell the poor girl off and get her off his back. She could only imagine her reaction if that happened. One time she cut her own wrists just from seeing Chang-Qiong conversing with another girl by accident and had to be taken to the emergency room. Ever since then she had been carrying a variety of knives in her bag, saying that she intended to cook for him. Another problem was Chang-Qiong's uncaring attitude. Though he stuck to his truthful self, he had no problem speaking his mind, and that included breaking someone's mental state of health. If he broke her heart, her semi-stable mind would shatter at the blow and one could only imagine where her knives would turn toward.

"Oh no, look for them!" she urged.

The little group scattered immediately, most to search for Chang-Qiong and Lily while Xia Mei left the premises with her boyfriend, leaving Xiong Ge's boyfriend and a bewildered Pang-Guang on the floor, his confession forgotten. They checked from Xiong Ge's bedroom to the backdoor. Neither of them was present.

"Ah!" Xiong Ge shrieked. "Upstairs!"

Everyone dashed up the stairs, and found Chang-Qiong walking into a room calling Lily's name before coming out. Xiong Ge and the others looked inside the room he was in before following him in suit.

They followed him back to his room. It was too late.

He was standing right in front of the unstable girl, who was preparing a plate of salad with scent candles on the table. Her eyes narrowed in on Chang-Qiong, completely unaware of the big group at the door.

"I'm so happy to see you. You're finally home," she said gleefully.

Xiong Ge noticed the knife in her hand. This won't end well, she thought. Fear set in and the first thing that came to mind was the four (actually, make that three) youngsters behind her back. "Kids shouldn't look at this. Let's get out of here." She turned to push them out the door. They resisted and caught her shoulders, turning her to face Lily, who had now noticed them. They pushed her one step closer to the knife.

"What're you doing?!" a frightened Lily said. Her eyes dilated and her knife dangled in her hand. "Don't come any closer! Get back!" Xiong Ge tried to step back, but the youngsters had her firmly rooted on the floor. "Get back!"

Her heart raced and her mouth stammered as her mind became clouded by fear. Her hands shook controllable.

"I-I w-want to step back," she stuttered, "b-b-but I can't. I didn't mean to come so close. Please, let's calm down and talk about this like rational people."

"Lily," Chang-Qiong called sternly to get her attention. "Today I must sort everything out with you."

Lily looked him in the eyes, finally calming down. The knife in her hand stopped shaking.

Xiong Ge wasn't reassured. If Chang-Qiong told her off, the situation would surely turn for the worse.

"No, don't say it. Don't say anything," she told him desperately.

He met her eyes for a moment. His lips pinched in a thin line. Then he grabbed Lily's wrist where her hand held the knife. "This is my problem, I'll sort it out," he said insistently before turning back to the crazy girl. "I really don't like it when you threaten others with your own life."

Xiong Ge gasped. The fingers on her back dug into the fabric of her t-shirt. She could even feel Han's grip on her arm tighten with tension. This is sooo not good, she thought.

Lily widened her eyes. "No, I won't do that," She waved with her free hand. Her tone built toward panic as she spoke, "I promised the doctor, I absolutely will not do that again. I swear!"

"Listen carefully. You are, from head to toe, from inside and out, _not my type of girl_."

She froze at his honesty. Her fingers around the knife loosened, and it met the table with a clattering sound. Xiong Ge quickly picked it up. She pointed at Chang-Qiong.

"You said it so straightforwardly." Her voice echoed the hurt in her heart.

 _Oh, no! This time, she'll lose it for sure!_

Chang-Qiong sighed nonchalantly. "Also, I hate you ordering salad, fruits, and all sorts of vegetables every time we go out to eat. When I refused, you just said it was unhealthy. The same goes for horror movies. I told you a million times that I hate watching those kinds of movies, and yet you still trick me into watching them at the movie theater."

Her hand lowered to her side slowly. Her face turned from hurt to unreadability as she continued to stare at Chang-Qiong.

 _This is so bad._ Now _she's lost it!_ Xiong Ge thought. Panic began to spread throughout her body. She tightened her grip on the knife, ready to fight Lily for it.

She didn't reach for it though. Instead she looked down at the salad she had prepared for Chang-Qiong. Her expression was still unreadable. "I made this last healthy dinner for you." She met his eyes again. "I hope we'll be good friends in every lifetime for all eternity."

Everyone fell silent.

Lily exhaled with what sounded like relief. "This is great. Today I'm finally free."

 _Free?! Oh, no, in the end it was inevitable._ Xiong Ge held the knife with rock-solid strength. She may have to resort to using magic if worst came to worst. The only question was how would she stop Lily and keep Ye Sheng and Julia in the dark at the same time?

Lily met his eyes with a renewed smile on her face.

Not the expression she was waiting for.

"Chang-Qiong," she began, "the truth is I was worried that you would miss me. Worried that you thought I would love you forever." The tension suddenly went out the window along with the expected worst case scenario, and a confusing mood set in the room. Lily twirled around once in a happy mood. Xiong Ge had no idea what was happening. "The truth is I've found someone else to love." She covered her giggling mouth and twirled around once.

Everyone stared at her, including Chang-Qiong.

"Oh, right, I have my new boyfriend's picture with me." She pulled it out of her bag and looked at it momentarily before turning it over to show them. "Look. Ain't he the cutest?"

Xiong Ge looked closer and feigned a gasp of exasperation. No matter the circumstances, at least the worst was over. The others around her inspected the picture as well. The room was then filled with clapping.

Lily turned back to Chang-Qiong. "By the way, Chang-Qiong, he especially loves salad."

"Oh, really?" he said with a feigned cheerful tone.

"That's good," Xiong Ge encouraged, "Salad is healthy. That's the way to grow tall and have a healthy body. Unlike Chang-Qiong here, who doesn't even like vegetables. You should know, because of that he's constipated. It takes half an hour for him to take care of his business every time he goes to the bathroom."

Chang-Qiong stared at her with an annoyed look. He held a finger in between his lips. But she ignored him. "Not only that, it's even impossible to flush it."

He looked away, clearly frustrated.


	18. Chapter 18

Melinda walked down the street with her cousins. She had seen glimpses of it in her vision when she touched the _Book of Shadows_ , but seeing it of her own accord was a different experience.

As she closely inspected their surroundings, the road signs, billboards and all other merchandise pointed that they had landed in a parallel China. The buildings, machines, vehicles, the environment, even the local clothing, weren't very different their own world's. On the way through the bridge, they passed by a small group of teenage girls who had their eyes focused on their iPhones and iPads. Those things were a little outdated, but still usable in their world.

It was both a relief and disappointment to see the identical similarities. They didn't have to relearn the modern technology that already existed back home; but Melinda had partly expected to see vehicles flying in the air with turbo boosters or anti-gravity fields that lifted them in midair. Or robots that walked down the streets, buying groceries. Maybe even clones of some known individual. There was none of that. At least not where she could see.

"Well, at least we know the things that run here aren't so much different than ours," PJ said. "If there's any difference at all."

"Question is, where in China are we?" she wondered.

"Actually," Kat pointed, "we're in Taiwan." PJ and Melinda stopped to look at her. "Or a parallel version of it. I saw a traveling ad when we walked past a travel agency a little while ago. It was mostly written in Chinese, but some were written in English. It said 'Taipei's best offers is here'. And Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan, so unless I've mistaken, that's where we are."

PJ had her hands on each of her hips as she scanned the area with her eyes. "Well, so we now know where we are. Question is, where do we go from here?"

Melinda wished she had the answer to that. They had arrived at their destination, but they had too few clues to know what they were looking for. The only solid lead was the house and the people who lived there.

"We should start by investigating the house back there," she suggested, a plan forming in her mind. "I don't know for sure what is in there, but it can't be coincidence that I saw it and then wind up there through the portal. There may be clues for us to find."

Kat shrugged, and adjusted her heavy backpack.

"I'm all for the plan. But we don't know the first thing about it."

"Excuse me," a stranger's voice called from behind.

They turned to see the man in a police uniform.

"C-Can I help yo?" the officer asked in accented English. "Are you lost?"

The cousins looked at each other, frantically trying to come up with a cover story. PJ then stepped forward and showed the policeman a picture in her phone. Mel and Kat shared confused looks, but neither made a move.

"You looking for this house?"

PJ nodded. "Do you know what it says on the sign here?" She pointed at the obscured screen. Mel couldn't see what she was referring to.

" _Xia Ren Gong Yu._ "

Eh? What?

"I'm sorry, sir. We don't speak Chinese," PJ explained, "Can you translate this for us?"

The police officer furrowed his lips, then he examined the picture some more.

"Xia Family Rental House, I think that's about right." He handed the phone back.

"As in, a place for renting?" Melinda asked.

He confirmed with a nod. That confirmation brought an idea to Melinda.

She thanked him with a genuine smile and walked off with Kat and PJ. She was happy because now they would have a place to start their quest. But first, they needed something else to secure their stay.

* * *

Lily happily hopped down the porch as she left the house. Everyone said goodbye to her at the door. And it was be the last time she would ever see them. After taking about thirty steps or so, she stopped. Her cheerful charade dropped.

She fished out and pressed the anonymous number in her phone. It went directly to voicemail.

She was glad to finally be able to drop the love-psychotic act and get back to her own life, and soon they money will be transmitted to her account. When the League recruited her, they had promised a great amount of money that could provide more than enough support for her acting gig. And all she had to do was find opportunities to plant mini-surveillance cameras in each and every room of the dormitory. It had been difficult to plant them all at once. She had to wait until no one was present before she could do her job, and even then she had to give a perfectly good excuse, such as needing to prepare dinner for Chang-Qiong or going to the bathroom. Today was different because the owner had a quarrel with her family and everyone was busy trying to find the thief who stole something from her boyfriend. This gave her more than plenty of time to plant the rest of the cameras in every room of the house.

"Mission accomplished," she said to the phone line before turning it off, and walked away.

The hidden cameras showed the rooms perfectly. The League of Hunters oversaw everything that happened in the house. Right now Julia was reading a clearly touching novel on her iPad and wiping off her tears while Chang-Qiong and Pang-Guang reenacted video game characters in a match with their boxing gloves. Ye Sheng simply had his nose stuck on a textbook.

In no time they will find what they were looking for, and then they will reach their goal.

"Prepare to terminate the girl, we cannot allow her to be a liability," the supervisor ordered his agents.

They nodded in unison.

The supervisor was quite curious himself. They had branched their covert organization all around the world to keep magically capable humans suppressed, and yet the higher ups were more interested in the Xia family. He couldn't figure out what they wanted, but if he were to find what he had lost, he needed to follow through on their orders.


	19. Epilogue

PJ added a piece of mandrake root into the boiling pot they found near an abandoned industrial site. It was exactly what they needed for the potion. Kat and Melinda were occupied with writing down details of their new identities on their notebooks. Apparently their mothers thought alike, because they believed it would be best to bring along a journal in case of spell casting situations.

Kat turned away from her identity writing to scan the area. The empty area they picked for their spell casting was much grander than their dorm rooms and pretty much abandoned. There were no doors and the windows were left unbarred. If anyone walked in, they could easily spot their doing. Still, they had been at it for the last fifteen minutes and no one, mortal or demon, had discovered them.

"Would you stop, no one's gonna find us here," she told her cousin.

Kat met her eyes. "Hey, you can never be too careful. This isn't exactly secured area, and there's a reason witches in this world are oppressed. I'd prefer to stay on the safe side."

Mel stopped writing and handed her piece of paper to PJ. She didn't need to read it for the spell to work, but curiosity piqued. "Andrews? You're using your old boyfriend's name as your last name?"

"Yes. What, you usin' yours?" Melinda asked.

She shook her head. "No. I'm using my own last name, but everything else I pretty much make them up."

She picked up the American brochure they snatched from a travel agency. It seemed like fate was in their favor, because the place was only a couple of blocks away from the street where they ran into the cop. And according to its content (written in both Chinese and English), America also existed in this realm and there was a city called Los Angeles. There were also mentions of Hollywood and other familiar landmarks. It felt somewhat reassuring that was many things in this world mirrored their own. It was almost hard to believe they had traveled to another universe.

"I'm almost done with my identity writing," Kat declared without looking up from her paper.

"Good," Melinda said with a nod. "Okay, let's go over the plan again. After we cast this identity spell, we'll use the other spell to provide communication, and then we put on these bracelets." She held up one of the bracelets the Elders prepared for them. "And from this point forward, we only use our powers when we absolutely have to."

PJ nodded. "And in the meantime, we look for this mysterious power."

"Hopefully before evil finds it," Kat added and then handed over her paper.

PJ held the three papers in her hands, added a sprinkle of coca leaves into the boiling pot and then dropped the papers in. A minor, harmless explosion followed, as potions sometimes did when magic was involved.

Kat was the first to check her ID card and passport. Melinda and PJ did the same.

Her picture remained unchanged, as did her birthdate and first name. But her last name, social security number and location of birth were different. "Mine's good."

"Me too," said Melinda.

"Okay, then let's start with the second spell."

PJ stood up, moved closer to Melinda's side and sat down. Kat quickly joined them. Melinda picked up her other notebook with spells written in it and flipped through the pages until she found the right spell. With a quartz crystal in hand and a lit candle placed in the center, they began the chant:

 _Guiding spirits, hear us three,_

 _We ask that you answer our plea._

 _Help us now understand_

 _A foreign language we not can,_

 _Allow us to speak, hear and read_

 _All of the fluency in need._

The rhyming sounded a bit off, but her mom wasn't exactly known for her spell writing skills.

Kat looked between her cousins.

"Did it work?"

Mel shrugged.

PJ picked up the brochure and scanned the content randomly. The words above the English translation were still Chinese. Still an unfamiliar language written in multiple characters. But she understood exactly what it meant. She could read the Chinese name of a park in Los Angeles, the notorious tourist sites and activities, and even the name of the travel agency. "Oh, it worked alright." She turned it over to let them read it.

Kat and Melinda inspected it with scrunched faces, totally focused on the words. A moment later, they relaxed.

"Okay, now that's settled, so let's do this," Mel said. She fished out the magic negating bracelet from her pocket and put it around her wrist without a second thought.

Kat looked at hers hesitantly. PJ took out her bracelet from her backpack, and, after a moment, wrapped it around her wrist. By the time she looked up, Kat already had the bracelet put on.

Melinda exhaled deeply.

"All right, let's go sell off some of our stuff at the antique store and get some cash. Hopefully it'll go without a hitch, because it's getting dark soon and I would prefer to have a roof over my head before the end of the day."

"We could always use the tent," PJ suggested. "Aren't you the one who suggested I brought it along?"

"Yeah, but that was before we even knew where to find a vacancy. And to be honest, I'm not comfortable with sleeping in a tent."

PJ rolled her eyes. Still she had to admit, she wasn't down for sleeping in a stuffed bag on some woodsy spot somewhere with two roommates to take up the space.

* * *

The three cousins stood outside the front door to the Xia Family Dormitory, as the omnilingualism spell translated in their minds. The sky had turned almost completely dark.

"Anyone wanna go first?" Melinda asked without expecting a response.

They had been standing outside for at least three minutes. Though they had made a good cover story as three cousins who traveled the world together (it was hard to judge with the gear they had) and sold off some of their valuables for currency, no one dared take a step inside the house.

"I'd say you go first, considering you know these people better than either of us," PJ said.

"I second that," Kat agreed.

 _Oh great, now I'm the scapegoat,_ she thought with a grunt. Taking a deep breath, she stepped toward the door, just as it opened. A middle aged woman with long frizzled hair held back by a headband peered out with a bag of garbage in her hand.

The woman bent down to drop it by the door, and looked up. "Hello, can I help you?" she said in accented English.

Melinda took a second breath and approached. "Hi, I'm Melinda and these are my cousins, Kat and PJ. We heard that this is a very nice place and would like to rent a room here."

The woman widened her eyes.

"Oh, wow, you speak Mandarin?"

Melinda nodded. She didn't need to say they cast a spell to implant the language in her mind. The last thing they needed was to expose themselves to a bunch of strangers. "Yes, we all can speak it."

The woman nodded. "So how can I help you?"

PJ stepped closer to Melinda. "We would like to rent a room here."

She looked over to Kat then back to them. "All three of you? Um, then I'm afraid it would be a bit difficult because we only have one bedroom left."

Melinda felt a small wave of hopelessness, but kept her smile in place. She reminded herself that they weren't out of rooms; they just didn't have enough for all three. "We don't mind sharing rooms, we're girls after all."

PJ agreed with a nod. Melinda looked over her shoulder at Kat, who also nodded.

The woman looked a little troubled by their insistence. "Well, that part is not a problem, but the room is only enough for two people." An idea suddenly dawned on her expression. "Oh, wait, perhaps one of you can sleep in one of the other rooms that're already occupied."

"Sure," Melinda said the same time PJ said "No problem."

The woman gestured at them. "Oh, it's really dark out here. Come on in. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the owner of this dormitory. My name's Xia Xiong. Everyone calls me _Xiong Ge_ , so you can just call me that."

They recognized the word _ge_ as _big brother_ in its translation.

"Xiong _Ge_?" they said in unison.

She nodded.

 _Talk about weird,_ Melinda thought.

PJ shrugged it off and proceeded inside the house with _Xiong Ge_ in tow. Melinda and Kat quickly followed.

And so their adventure begins.


End file.
